


The Itsy Bitsy Spider

by IrisofParadise



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Also just throwing out that Pietro didn't die because I'm in denial, Clint's not married to Laura, implied past Matt/Natasha, oh those Russians, past clint/bobbi - Freeform, probably add more as it continues, sorry no
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-07 19:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4275777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrisofParadise/pseuds/IrisofParadise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>HYDRA has gotten a hold of the Black Widow program. When Natasha, Clint, and Yelena go to take the ex Soviet Base in Germany down they find twenty-eight young girls who have been trained to be better than Natasha and Yelena. And when one gets away it's a chase for everyone to find her. </p>
<p>Vladimir Ranskahov had come back to Moscow because it was what his brother had wanted. He wanted to go back to Hell's Kitchen. So when an orphaned girl needs somewhere to go and asks to go with him, why not? It'll make him seem more normal. Except the child isn't normal at all. </p>
<p>Matt's new Russian neighbor is odd. And not just because he's supposed to be dead either. There's something really weird going on. That may have to do with the fact that a seven year old kicked him in the face and almost choked him, but you know, whatever. </p>
<p>Meanwhile Clint has decided that he likes having twenty-seven acrobatic little killers in training living with him at his farm. Kate just wants to shoot him. And Lucky just loves all the attention he's getting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a thought I had a few weeks ago. I'll probably update every few days or so because I have most of it already written. I typed a lot of this onto my phone and my grammar sucks so I'm very sorry if it's crap. Also I apparently like to make things confusing as fuck so just throwing out that:  
> 1) Clint is not married to Laura  
> 2) Clint's only wife is his ex-wife, Bobbi Morse (who will make an eventual appearance)  
> 3) Pietro didn't die in Age of Ultron  
> 4) Clint's deaf when he doesn't have his aids in (said aids are purple)  
> 5) kind of referencing some stuff from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D  
> 6) eventual mattimir stuff  
> 7) not going to be too long maybe like 8-10 chapters

“And how are the tests going thus far?” A mans voice asked calmly as he stared at the twenty-eight desks, all filled with young girls.

 

The man to his right stared at the girls as well. “They seem to be going well. No negative reactions. The girls heal from any injuries at a rapid rate, thanks to the serum transfusions. The program is seeing much better success since the last time it was up and running.”

 

“Any signs of other powers developing?”

 

A slight pause. Then, “Every girl has a faster metabolism than the average person. They heal from any wounds. Bruises are gone within a day. Cuts take longer to heal but leave no trace. The only bruises that seem to never fully disappear are the ones on the wrists, which is to be expected.”

 

The first man just nodded. “They're not becoming too close to each other are they? Or anyone else for that matter?”

 

“There were two girls who began to act friendly. They were put into solitary for a few days. No problems from anyone since.”

 

The first man smirked and nodded. “Good. Keep me updated on everything. I want to make sure the new Black Widow program is a success. I want every single girl to make it through the testing. I want them all better than Natasha Romanoff. And eventually I want to fuse this program with the C.E.N.T.I.P.E.D.E. program as well. Hail HYDRA.”

 

The second man gave a slight nod of the head. “Hail HYDRA.”

 

~oOo~

 

It was a regular Friday night at Avenger's Tower. The Avengers were currently in the middle of making fun of some corny horror movie when Natasha's phone gave a buzz in her pocket. She read over the text, growing tense. None of the others noticed except for Clint who had the eyes of a hawk.

 

The red head silently stood from her seat and headed towards her bedroom, Clint following after half a minute. Clint leaned against the closed bedroom door and waited.

 

“It was Yelena,” Natasha finally said, expression blank.

 

Clint raised an eyebrow. “The blonde who tried to kill you? The other Black Widow?” Natasha nodded, arms crossed over her chest. “Why?”

 

“She has reason to believe that HYDRA. has begun a new Black Widow program.” She handed the phone to Clint who began to read over details, frown growing as each word was read. “I'm going to Germany tonight.”

 

“You know I'm coming with you, Nat,” Clint handed the phone back.

 

A corner of her mouth raised slightly. “We leave in an hour. Grab your arrows Hawkeye.”

 

~oOo~

 

Clint flipped the switches to make the Quinjet, borrowed from one Tony Stark, invisible before he and Natasha stepped out into the woods in Berlin, Germany. A young blonde woman stood waiting for them.

 

Natasha kept her expression neutral. So did Belova. Clint just raised an eyebrow.

 

Yelena tilted her head and began to walk further into the woods, the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents following close behind. “They are training now. Breakfast is in two hours. I think it be best to attack at night when they are least expecting.”

 

Natasha pursed her lips but didn't say anything. Clint trusted Natasha's judgment on the matter. The trio of spies began to climb into the trees where it became apparent that Yelena had been keeping watch. The blonde handed over some thermal binoculars to Natasha. “There are thirty guards who keep watch over everything. Two stand guard at the entrance throughout the day. One stays outside the girls room at night. Three patrol the perimeter. The rest patrol the halls throughout the day and night. There are ten doctors who can shoot. Twenty-eight girls. Five cooks. And the caregiver.”

 

Natasha pursed her lips as she listened to Yelena, counting each person as the blonde described their duties. She scowled slightly before controlling her expression once again at the mention of the caregiver. The woman who led the girls around. Who took them to the classes and training. Who cuffed them to the beds at night.

 

Yelena continued, “It doesn't seem like they want to have the girls fight to the death just yet, if ever. I've overheard some of the guards say that their higher ups want to cross with another program. Have you heard of C.E.N.T.I.P.E.D.E.?”

 

Clint raised an eyebrow. “We haven't. What is it?”

 

Yelena shook her head. “I never heard of it until now. There's almost no information on it.”

 

“We'll talk with Director Fury once we clean up this mess,” Natasha said, handing the binoculars to the other Russian assassin.

 

“I was rather shocked that S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't on this, to be honest with you Natalya.”

 

The red head said nothing, just watched as the girls were led in a neat and orderly line down the halls.

 

Clint stared at the building. “There isn't much of a S.H.I.E.L.D. left anymore.”

 

“Pity.”

 

Nothing else was said. Clint stared the buildings. It looked as though only the center building was being used. Many, if not all, of the windows were broken on all of the buildings. Vines grew over many parts of the building. No one left the center building. No one entered. Except for the guards. And if Clint didn't know any better or hadn't been looking, he would have sworn the place was abandoned. Part of the roof was even caved in on one side on one of the buildings. He took note of ways to enter the building without being spotted. Safe bet was to probably climb into one of the broken windows and make their way down the halls; take out anyone they could. And he had a feeling that Natasha and Yelena would get whatever information they wanted and then kill. It was a bit more personal for them, for obvious reasons, than it was to Clint. As for escape, if everything went according to plan they could just walk out of the building with the girls.

 

~oOo~

 

It was nearly midnight when the trio of spies decided to attack. They ended up climbing through a broken window and began to silently walk down the hallway. Yelena stiffened and nodded her head slightly.

 

There were four guards walking towards them, once they turned the corner they would notice them as well. Clint knocked an arrow into place and waited. The blonde woman scowled at him and silently made her way towards the corner. The guards turned and Clint fired an arrow that tazed one in the chest. The guard gave a yell before falling, limbs spazzing. Yelena punched the one closest to her in the face, grabbed him by the neck and threw him face first into the wall. Natasha had kicked one in the chest and as he was doubling over punched him the face before throwing him to the floor. The Russian women punched the last remaining guard in the face, Natasha throwing him out of the broken window before he could hit the floor.

 

Yelena raised an eyebrow as she saw that the guard was effectively knocked unconscious.

 

“You know, you could have saved that one for me,” Clint mumbled as they began to walk down the halls again.

 

Natasha smirked.

 

Yelena just scoffed. “We'll remember that.”

 

The American scowled. “I highly doubt that.”

 

“New plan,” Yelena said as they stopped in front a door. “Natalya you're better at computers than me,” Natasha gave a small shrug. “-find them. Get all of the information that you can. Barton, find the girls. I'll take out as many as I can.” She didn't wait for their affirmative, just took off running down the hall.

 

Clint turned to Natasha as he heard a gun shot, groans, glass breaking, and a thump at what he assumed was another guard Yelena had knocked out or possibly killed. “Think she's got that?”

 

The red head smirked. “Seems like it. Find the girls and let's get out.”

 

Clint rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah. Totally can do. It's just a huge ass scary as hell abandoned Soviet base. I got this.” He mumbled to himself as he made his way up some stairs. “Fucking Russians. Make everything so creepy looking.”

 

He stopped as two more guards pointed guns at him. “Well this night just gets better doesn't it?” He knocked a flare arrow and fired it then turned to shield his eyes. The two guards yelled as the light filled the dark hall. He ran forward, kicked one in the face and punched the other in the back of the head. Clint hopped back up and began to open doors, slamming them shut again when he saw that it was empty.

 

He slammed a door shut and turned so he was standing next to the doorway, back to the wall right before a bullet hole was where his head had been moments before. He kicked the door in and shot an arrow that once again effectively hitting the target.

 

There was a yelp and a thud. Clint peaked around the corner and saw a woman on the floor, limbs spazzing like the guards were earlier. The American grimaced as he saw the twenty-eight girls staring at him.

 

They were scared. Worried. Trying not to show it. But Clint could tell. He'd seen the same look on Natasha's face when they first began to work together.

 

Clint placed his bow by his feet and held his hands up. “Hey. Please say you guys speak English?” The girls looked at each other before one slowly nodded. “Oh thank God. Okay I'm here to get you all out. I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Where's the key?”

 

“She... she keeps it in her pocket,” a brunette mumbled softly, eyes wide.

 

The archer leaned down so that he could dig through the woman's pocket. He gave a small cheer as he wrapped his fingers around it. As he unlocked the cuffs each girl would slowly sit up and began to rub at their wrist, eyes wide and unbelieving.

 

“Alright kiddies, time to go,” Clint said as he motioned for the girls to go out the door. They hesitantly began to move around the still knocked out woman on the floor, Clint close behind them. He cursed as there was a boom and the smell of smoke began to cloud the air. “Quicker guys c'mon now! We have to move!”

 

Another explosion, another under the breath curse. “How good are you guys with jumping out of a two story building window?”

 

A blonde stared at him. “We were trained. We can do that.”

 

Clint nearly shuddered at her emotionless tone but nodded instead. He ran to the nearest window and kicked in the already breaking glass. “Come on, come on, go!” And almost instantly the seven year olds were jumping out of the window. Clint impatiently picked up the last girl who was standing next to him, a red head with blue eyes, and jumped out of the window moments before another explosion shook the building.

 

He groaned as they landed. “Oh that's gonna hurt in the morning,” he mumbled, still holding the girl as he stood up. He counted the heads of the children. All twenty-eight were there. As were Natasha and Yelena.

 

Clint put the small red head in his arms down onto the snow covered ground. “Well now that we have them what do we do? Do we call S.H.I.E.L.D. or what guys?” He asked slightly out of breath.

 

Yelena shook her head. “Nyet. Not yet. I do not trust that they won't experiment further on the children.” She looked over the twenty-eight girls. They stared back emotionless, shivering and deciding they'd rather cuddle close to each other than freeze.

 

“We need to get them to the quinjet. Let's take them to Russia. I know a place in Moscow.” Natasha began to lead the way back to the Quinjet leaving everyone else to follow after her. Yelena pursed her lips before following, any comments she had she kept to herself.

 

Clint was almost surprised at how easily the girls were able to keep up with them, though he knew he shouldn't have been. This was the same program that trained Natasha for God's sake.

 

“ _You may want to sit tight for a bit kids_ ,” Natasha said in smooth Russian. The girls hurried to sit and await further instruction. Natasha and Yelena shared a look before the redhead gave Clint a nod and they were flying to Moscow, Russia.

 

Less than two hours later Clint landed the jet on top of an old building and made it invisible. Natasha led the way once again with Yelena right behind her and the children behind the blonde, leaving Clint to follow up. He gave a shiver and was once again amazed how none of the females were showing signs of discomfort.

 

Once inside Natasha flipped a switch and a dull light brightened the dark room. “This is an old base where they would keep the girls before moving them to a more secure base. We're on the outskirts of Moscow.” She began to walk to a door. “ _This is where you girls can stay for the night._ ”

 

Inside were fourteen tiny beds with two sets of handcuffs dangling from the bed posts. “ _If you don't want to, you don't have to wear the cuffs. I just know it took me a long time to be able to sleep without them._ ” Natasha explained.

 

Clint wrinkled his nose at the dust on everything but didn't complain.

 

The children slowly made their way past the elder women and into the darker room. They didn't say anything, just began to pair up to sleep. Yelena reached over and slowly shut the door.

 

“I never thought that I would be back in this place,” the blonde said simply, refusing to sit on any of the dusty and falling apart furniture.

 

“I can't believe the place is still standing,” Natasha responded.

 

Yelena crossed her arms over her chest. “We need to find out what to do with them. They've already had multiple transfusions. It's all in the paperwork we took from the labs.”

 

Natasha looked out the window but didn't say anything. Yelena stayed silent as the elder Black Widow thought.

 

“You know,” Clint interrupted their train of thought, “we could run the most kickass daycare in the history of ever right now.”

 

Natasha and Yelena both scowled at him. “No, Clint,” the red head shot down.

 

Clint snapped his fingers. “Better yet! We could have the coolest circus!”

 

Natasha glared. “No.”

 

“With ballerinas, Nat!”

 

Natasha ignored him. “I'll take first watch if you two want to sleep.”

 

Yelena shook her head. “I'll read over the information we took.”

 

Clint sighed. “Neither of you have a sense of humor, I swear.”

 

Meanwhile the children were cuffing themselves to the beds and refusing to speak to each other. They didn't know what was going on completely but they weren't sure if they felt safe just yet. They didn't necessarily feel safe back at the Berlin base but it was familiar. They had been at it since they were all four years old. Almost at once they were all asleep.

 

Over two hours passed in silence. Clint had managed to doze off while Natasha and Yelena read over the files that were now scattered slightly on the floor.

 

One of the girls jerked awake, handcuffs giving a quiet jingle as she tugged. The brunette seven year old immediately began to calm herself, took in her surroundings with a blank expression, then quickly popped her thumb out of socket. She slipped her wrist through the silver bracelet. With a wince she popped the dislocated finger back into place. ' _Just like in the room,_ ' she thought, massaging her swelling finger.

 

Shakily the thin child stood, careful not to wake any of the others, and made her way to the window. The snow below was glistening in the pale light. No one was around. The girl began to open the window slowly but quickly raised it fully when the window didn't squeak. She climbed onto the window sill and slid the window shut again before hopping into the cold snow. She wiggled her toes.

 

The thin socks were soaked. The end of her thin gown began to grow damp as well. She began to walk away from the building with the people who turned her world upside down. What was she supposed to do now? She didn't want to go anywhere else with the three adults who couldn't decide what to do with her and the others.

 

She looked around and stilled suddenly. She was nowhere near the building anymore. The streets were brighter. There was a man walking in her direction. She didn't think she had been walking that fast and changed her stance to be able to run at a moments notice.

 

“ _Hey kid! What are you doing out so late?_ ” The man asked. “ _You'll catch your death out here dressed like that._ ” He began to make his way towards her.

 

The girl looked down at herself. She wiggled her toes and promptly bit down on her lip as a flash of pain coursed its way up her legs.

 

The man picked her up and held her close awkwardly. She narrowed her eyes until they were gray slits as she kicked him in the stomach. He held tighter and glared. “ _Oh calm down! I'm just taking you to my house! We need to get you warmed up and fed before sending you home you fucking brat._ ”

 

She hesitantly nodded her head in affirmation. She was cold now that she was thinking about it.

 

“ _Where are your parents?_ ” He asked, scowl still present on his face.

 

“ _I don't have any,_ ” came the emotionless reply.

 

The man raised an eyebrow. His scowl began to turn into a frown. “ _Where's your home then?_ ”

 

She shook her head. “ _Don't have one._ ”

 

“ _How about a name?_ ”

 

She shook her head again, her braids beginning to come undone completely now.

 

“ _How old are you kid?_ ”

 

A pause. “ _Seven_.” The answer was quiet.

 

The rest of the walk was silent until he opened the unlocked door to a small house. The man carefully placed her onto her still soaked sock clad feet. _“Take off your socks,”_ the man kicked his snow covered boots off and gestured for her to follow him once she had her socks off. He started a small fire in the living room. “ _Hungry_?”

 

She shook her head as she placed her soaked and dirty socks next to the fire then propping her feet up so they faced the fire.

 

“ _I don't see how you haven't got frostbite,_ ” he said as he flopped onto the couch. He looked her over. Her hair was damp from the snow melting in it but steadily drying in clumps. She had a few bruises. Her feet were still red from the cold.

 

Her jerked slightly as she turned to stare at him, still expressionless. “ _What's your name?_ ”

 

He didn't say anything for a moment. “ _Vladimir_.”

 

“ _The papers say 'Ivan'_.” She stared pointedly at a stack of papers on the coffee table between the two.

 

Vladimir narrowed his eyes slightly. “ _Your point?_ ”

 

“ _Those are illegal documents saying that you're a U.S. Citizen._ ” She knew how documents looked, legal and illegal thanks to the Red Room.

 

He raised an eyebrow. “ _And how would you know what illegal documents look like exactly?_ ”

 

She widened her eyes slightly in an attempt to look innocent. “ _I want to go with you._ ”

 

Vladimir leaned back, eyes wide. “ _What? Why?_ ”

 

She stared at the carpet. “ _I don't have anywhere else to go._ ” She bit her lip and gave him her best kicked puppy face.

 

The man scowled. _'No. Don't do it. No. I can atone for my sins in other ways. Like helping an old lady. I can't raise children. No. Kick her out!'_ He thought to himself. He could practically hear Anatoly yelling at him for throwing an orphan back into the snow.

 

_'She'll freeze to death!'_

 

_'I can live with that.'_

 

_'Vladimir!'_

 

He and his brother had been orphans for some time as children.

 

But Vladimir was not good with children at all. He didn't have the patience to deal with them. They were too loud. Too distracting. And Vladimir didn't like to put others before himself. Except his brother. But Anatoly was dead; had been for almost two years. The Russian opened his mouth to tell the girl to leave and forget about the papers but instead, “ _Fine. You can come with me. I'll need to do papers saying that you're my daughter. And I want you to know that I'm not very good with children at all. Understood?_ ”

 

The girl almost beamed as she nodded.

 

Vladimir groaned. “I am making big mistake,” he mumbled to himself in English, accent thick.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Vladimir held the little girls hand and stood tensely as their recently forged passports were looked over. “Your papers are in order, Mister Belikov, right this way please,” the woman said handing them pack then gesturing for them to continue.

 

The Russian nodded and took the passports. “Come on Vasilisa,” he said softly, leading the way out of the airport, their bags slung over his shoulder.

 

The little girl frowned slightly. She liked having a name but it was weird. So different. She had a whole new life now and even though this is what she was trained to do it was still difficult. Her name was Vasilisa Belikov. Her new father had named her after Vasilisa the Wise, a fairy tale that his brother had liked when they were growing up. For a fleeting thought she had wondered where his brother was but held her tongue.

 

Vladimir had somehow gotten hold of papers that said they were U.S. citizens and Vasilisa was his daughter. Her mother had left the picture soon after her birth leaving Vladimir, now Ivan Belikov, with his daughter Vasilisa. They were now coming back from their trip with Russian relatives and were moving to Hell's Kitchen from Boston, into an apartment that Vladimir had rented out while he was hiding in Russia. As it turned out he had been living in a house that a family had left unoccupied before they had left for a family vacation for the Christmas holidays. The family had two daughters from what Vasilisa was able to gather as she had watched Vladimir grab and stuff random clothes into a duffel bag before the two had left for the airport.

 

The Russians walked out of the airport and into the snow. Vasilisa spun slowly in spot to take in her surroundings. The air was cold but not as cold as Germany had been and nowhere near as cold as Russia. She jumped away a step when Vladimir tapped her shoulder.

 

“Taxi is here,” he mumbled before sliding into the yellow car. Vladimir gave the address and the car began to move slowly. Vasilisa stared out of the window. She hadn't been outside in society for as long as she could remember and now everything was different.

 

All too soon the taxi pulled to a final stop and the Russians stepped out. Vladimir grabbed their bags and led the way into the building where he began to speak quietly with a man inside. The brunette child watched disinterestedly, figuring he was speaking to the landlord about their apartment.

 

Vladimir gave a nod of the head, walking away and leaving the child to follow after. Vasilisa followed close behind with a frown. She had wanted to get away from Russia, from the other girls, from her past. She wanted to move on. Didn't want to be what they had trained, never raised, her to be. And Vladimir—no, Ivan—she reminded herself with a huff at her thoughts, had seemed like he needed to start over too, if the false papers were anything to go by.

 

Vasilisa watched as her new father opened the apartment door and promptly dropped their duffel bags next to said door. He waved a hand around. “Welcome to our new home, Vasilisa Belikov.”

 

The child wrinkled her nose. “It's empty.”

 

“Da. Did not think that far ahead. Was more concerned with getting here than being comfortable.” Vladimir scowled at the child. “We'll go to the closest Walmart and get blankets and shit.” He walked out of the apartment, Vasilisa following with a frown. He didn't even bother to lock the door.

 

~oOo~

 

Clint watched as the two grown Russian spies whispered to each other in hushed Russian. “Look,” he interrupted them calmly in an attempt to assure them, “it's cold as it'll get out there. She couldn't have gotten far.”

 

The blonde Widow scowled at him. “She has been trained for over three years how to be the perfect spy and killer. She could be anywhere with anyone. HYDRA could have taken her back or she could have even willingly gone back.”

 

Clint narrowed his eyes at her. “Then we search the surrounding area. Ask anyone if they saw anything last night. Meet back in an hour. My Russian is pretty god awful and we need someone to stay with the other girls so I'll stay here.”

 

After a quick nod to each other the two Black Widows were gone, Natasha placing a key into his left hand as she passed him by. Once he was sure they were gone he went back into the bedroom where the remaining twenty-seven girls were located, still cuffed to the dusty beds. He had to admit they all looked much better after sleeping in what he imagined to be the most relaxing sleep they had probably ever had. Which was depressing really.

 

He began to unlock the cuffs. “Natasha and Yelena went to go find your friend-”

 

“We aren't friends,” one of the girls interrupts.

 

Another speaks up, “There is no time for friendship in the Red Room,” she practically recites.

 

The American stiffens as the last girl is uncuffed and they're all staring at him emotionlessly. “Right. How could I forget. How come none of us heard her leave though,” he mumbles the last bit to himself with a mental eye roll at his choice of wording.

 

“Same way you didn't hear me grab your gun,” another small voice states from the doorway. When Clint turns, sure enough there's a tiny blonde with fierce green eyes glaring at him, gun pointed at his head. He doubted she'd miss if she shot the gun too.

 

“Aw, kid, no,” he sighs out, plopping himself onto the floor.

 

The girls begin to speak in quick Russian and German, Clint only catching a few words. _'Yes', 'kill him' , 'no'._

 

_'Please let Nat get back quickly,'_ he thinks to himself as he watches and listens to the children argue.

 

Natasha meanwhile was walking around the area looking out for any sign that the girl had gone this way. If there had been, the freshly fallen snow had cleared it all away. Of course, it'd be easier to find her if she knew what the girl looked like. None of the adults had paid much attention. Twenty-eight girls were a lot and the remaining girls hadn't been very forth coming with any information about the now missing girl.

 

The redhead walked up to a man that was shoveling snow out of his driveway. _“Excuse me sir, have you seen a little girl lately?”_

 

The man scoffed. _“You'll have to be more specific. I'm afraid there are children everywhere.”_

 

Natasha nodded. _“My apologies.”_ She turned to the woman who had slowly been making her way to the man. _“You're looking for a child?”_ She asked, hands on the mans right arm. He placed his left hand over hers.

 

The redhead nodded. _“She was wearing a nightgown.”_ She supplied.

 

The woman bit her lower lip. “ _As my friend said, there are a lot of children around. And I haven't seen a girl as you described...”_ She trailed off and gave the man a look.

 

“ _But?”_ Natasha raised an eyebrow. She watched as the couple shared a look and the man shrugged.

 

“ _There was a man. He was staying at the house across the street while the family was on vacation for the holidays. I know what you're thinking! 'Oh you're crazy. Maybe he was a friend of theirs!' But he wasn't! I'm sure of it! He only came out at night, late at night. Usually he would have a bottle of alcohol. Sometimes papers. He left early this morning or late last night I assume. The house has been dark all day. And now you say a girl is missing. Very odd coincidence I think.”_

 

Natasha frowned, narrowed her eyes and gave a small nod. _“What did he look like?”_

 

The woman shook her head. _“He usually covered himself well. For obvious reasons. Very few even noticed he was there. We didn't bother with calling cops. He wasn't disturbing anyone really. And he could have lied to them and said he was a friend but I just know he wasn't.”_

 

The red head nodded again. _“Thank you for your help.”_ She began to walk away, glancing at her wrist watch. She needed to be back at the building in less than ten minutes.

 

Yelena leaned against a wall as she watched the girls who were crowded around Clint, who was describing in great detail his farm, some girl named Kate and a Russian mafia that only wore tracksuits, and his one eyed dog. Most of the girls were grinning and they all seemed more at ease.

 

The blonde barely moved as Natasha slid next to her. “Find anything?” Yelena asked. The girls stopped listening to Clint who quickly stopped talking.

 

“A man was staying in another family's house. He left early this morning and may have taken her.” Natasha explained smoothly, eyes staying locked on Clint's.

 

The deaf man stood up, brushed dust off of his legs, and went to stand closer to the Russian adults. “So what's the plan then ladies?”

 

Yelena pursed her lips. “We need to find her. And if this man is with HYDRA, then he needs to be eliminated.”

“Woah woah woah! C'mon guys. Ix-nay on the illing-kay in front of the ids-kay, okay?” Clint said loudly, throwing his hands over the ears of the closest child next to him.

 

The girl just rolled her eyes but didn't move his hands away.

 

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Clint's right.” “Damn straight!” “We can't just bring twenty-seven kids on a chase. We need to find a place to go first where they can stay.”

 

It was silent for a moment as they thought this over. Clint snapped his fingers, the sound reverberating throughout the room. “My place.”

 

Natasha shook her head. “Your apartment can't room all of them.”

 

“Well you're not wrong. But I actually meant my farm.” The girls all glanced at each other eagerly then quickly pushed the emotions off of their faces.

 

“That... that could work.”

 

~oOo~

 

“I want them found!” A man yelled into his phone angrily. “I don't want to hear excuses! I don't care who broke into the base, just get those girls back before anybody else realizes they're gone! I need them to finish the testing!” He pushed the end button and swore loudly as he slid the phone into his pocket. His whole posture screamed, “annoyed”.

 

There was still so much work to be done.

 

They needed the girls back.

 

~oOo~

 

The brunette nudged the body that was blocking the entrance to the mostly fallen down building. The dead man had a knife protruding from his throat he noted as he walked into the building.

 

More bodies littered the floor.

 

He suddenly crouched down and picked up a tiny familiar device with his metallic left hand, device clasped between two fingers.

 

“Natalia?” he whispered in a dazed tone. He quickly brushed the thoughts of red away, pocketing the device before setting to work.

 

Less than twenty minutes later he was leaving, the base in flames.

 

~oOo~

 

Vasilisa was glaring at Vladimir from behind and the man was scowling, though she couldn't see it. It wasn't that they were mad at each other, not really, it was just still awkward and difficult to get used to their new arrangements for the both of them. They each held a pillow and Vladimir had their blankets and some snack foods in another Walmart bag. “Hurry up. I'm tired and these bags are getting heavy and-” he cut himself off as he ran into someone. “Hey! Watch where you're going! What are you? B-”

 

“Blind?” The man asked wryly, face pale as he turned his face in their general direction.

 

Vladimir flushed slightly. “Izvinite.”

 

“Uh right. You uh you sound new,” the man said awkwardly. Vasilisa raised an eyebrow at him.

 

Vladimir nodded, ears still a light pink. Vasilisa bit her lip to hold in her snicker. “Da. Moved in this morning.”

 

The blind man slowly held his hand out. "Matt Murdock. Guess I'm your new neighbor."   
  
Vladimir glanced at Vasilisa, who just shrugged at him, and maneuvered the bags in his hands so he could shake Matt's outstretched hand. "Ivan Belikov. This is my daughter, Vasilisa."

  
  
Matt kept his expression neutral as he heard the Russian mans heartbeat speed up slightly at the lies. "Nice to meet you. If you ever need anything you know where I live."

  
  
Vladimir frowned. "Da. Right across from us. Do svidaniya Matthew." He nudged Vasilisa's shoulder. She moved to open the apartment door.

  
  
"Matt, please," Matt said with a slightly forced smile.

  
  
Vladimir rolled his eyes and moved closer to the door. "Da."

  
  
Matt scowled as the door was slammed. ' _ How is he still alive?' _ He thought as he walked into his own apartment.  _ 'Who's child did he kidnap? How is he alive?' _

 

Hours later Matt could hear Vladimir snoring softly from his apartment and hear the little girl tip-toeing around quietly. Vladimir's heart rate remained steady for most of the night, minus the few times that it would jump slightly from what Matt imagined to be nightmares. But the little girl didn't sleep at all.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Once the Quinjet landed in the large yard the girls were practically shoving each other out of the way to get off and look around their new surroundings. The sun was beginning to rise and the girls were looking out of the windows in awe.

  
  
"Alrighty kiddies calmly now. No need to push and shove," Clint explained with a grin as he pushed the button to let the doors open. The girls began squealing as they jumped and ran around in the grass.

  
  
Natasha's lips quirked up slightly as she watched the children begin to play in the grass timidly.

  
  
"As cute as this is, we need to go." Yelena said bluntly to the two SHIELD agents.

  
  
Natasha nodded and turned to Clint. "Can you handle this?"

  
  
Clint raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Please. They're kids. What's the worst that can happen?"

  
  
Yelena turned to him sharply. "You have jinxed yourself moron. Just be careful. It is going to be like having twenty-six more of Natalia."

  
  
Clint frowned. "Wow that sounds like a pain."

  
  
The Russian women smirked. "Have fun Clint," Natasha said simply, patting him on the shoulder as she and Yelena walked back into the Quinjet.

  
  
The American and twenty-seven Russian girls watched as the jet rose and took off. Clint looked at each girl. "Okay we need to get you guys clothes and give you names. Any suggestions?"

  
~oOo~

  
Vasilisa looked out at the children sitting at their desks all staring at her. She narrowed her eyes and smirked as a few at the front looked away.

  
  
"Kids, this is Vasilisa Belikov, she's moving here from Boston. I expect for you all to be nice, alright?" The teacher, a nice middle aged woman, said with a bubbly voice. She had mispronounced Vasilisa's whole name.

  
  
Vasilisa wanted to punch her. She was too happy and she couldn't pronounce names at all apparently.

  
  
A boy raised his hand. "Yes Derek?" The teacher, Mrs. Smith, gave the boy permission to speak.

  
  
"Why's your name all weird?" He asked loudly.

  
  
A few children snickered.

  
  
The brunette child crossed her arms to stop herself from lunging forward and punching the boy.  _ 'This is what I've trained for. I can handle this,' _ she repeated to herself mentally.

  
  
Mrs. Smith frowned. "Derek that's really rude. Apologize to Vasilisa." She was still mispronouncing the name. _'Maybe it's just my name she can't say_ ', Vasilisa thought with a huff and small glare to the woman.

  
  
The boy wrinkled his nose and glared at her. "Sorry."

  
  
Vasilisa rolled her eyes.

  
  
Mrs. Smith frowned but quickly grinned. "Alright then class, Vasilisa you can go and sit in the empty desk sweetie, let's get started with the math lesson!"

  
  
Everyone groaned, minus a girl with pigtails and glasses who practically beamed. Vasilisa sat down in the empty desk which happened to be in front of Derek's desk. _'I have a bad feeling about this.'_

 

The lesson was boring. She was years ahead of these American children thanks to the Red Room so it really wasn't her fault that she fell into a light sleep. She hadn't slept the night before, or the night before that, or the night before that. It was too difficult to sleep without the cuffs securing her to the bed. It also just didn't help that she and her 'dad' didn't have furniture yet.

 

The child was jerked awake as she felt a slight tug to her hair and a snicker. The sound of a desk scratching the floor as it was moved half an inch. Vasilisa sat up quickly and ran her fingers through her hair, thin fingers getting caught up in a sticky mess.

 

Gray eyes narrowed. She yanked her hand out of her hair, turned to Derek, and punched the grinning boy right in the nose. There was a satisfying crack noise then blood dripped off of his face onto his desk and floor. He stood up and screamed.

 

The children sitting around them all screamed and scrambled out of their desks to get away as Vasilisa grabbed Derek by the wrist and jerked it, smirking slightly as there was an audible pop. “You put gum into my hair you arschloch!” She spat out, the German slipping out with ease which made her angrier.

 

“Vasilisa! What are you doing?! Let him go right this instant!” Mrs. Smith finally yelled out, pushing her way to the two children. She grabbed a hold of Vasilisa's arm and yanked her towards the door. “You are coming with me right this instant and going straight to the principal's office young lady!”

 

The girl let herself be forcibly dragged from the classroom. Mrs. Smith yelled for another teacher to help as they made it to the hallway. Vasilisa scowled but sat down as she was pushed to the principal's office. A moment later and Derek was sitting next to her, blood all over his face. Mrs. Smith and the other teacher, an older woman, were yelling and talking to the principal, a middle aged man who was frowning at her. Vasilisa just crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow, practically daring him to say anything.

 

She barely heard as they decided to call the parents. She smirked as their irritation grew as her 'dad' didn't answer the phone.

 

~oOo~

 

Hell's Kitchen was just as Vladimir remembered. Still God awful. Loud. But this time he didn't have his brother with him. He had a seven year old and a phone that was buzzing in his pocket that he really didn't feel like answering.

 

The phone stopped buzzing for all of two seconds before it was once again buzzing. “Oh for the love of- chto?” He almost barked into the phone.

 

A moment of silence. Then, “Yes, Mister Belikov?”

 

“Da?”

 

“Er do you speak English?” The man asked awkwardly.

 

Vladimir rolled his eyes. “Of course I do. Who is this? Why are you calling me all day?”

 

“Your daughter, Lisa-”

 

“Her name is Vasilisa!” Vladimir interrupted, his annoyance growing ever more. He had given her that name because it reminded him of his brother and he wasn't going to let some American man butcher the name just because he couldn't pronounce it.

 

A silence. “Mister Belikov, your daughter got into a fight just a bit ago and she broke another kids nose and dislocated his wrist. You need to come by the school immediately.”

 

“For fucks sake! Whatever.” Vladimir angrily pocketed the phone and turned to hail a taxi. The child was beginning to become too much for him to handle. He'd never liked children very much anyway. Always too whinny. They needed too much. And Vladimir was a selfish person and he was more than alright with that.

 

He paid the driver and walked into the school's office. “Where is my daughter?” He grumbled out, arms crossed as he was directed into the principal's office. He raised an eyebrow at the little boy with dried blood on his face. “What'd he do to her?”

 

Derek's mother scowled. “It doesn't matter what he did to her! She broke my sons nose!”

 

Vladimir shrugged. _“What did he do to you?”_

 

“ _He put gum in my hair,”_ Vasilisa responded with a shrug.

 

“Mister Belikov! Miss Lisa!”

 

Vladimir glared at the man. “Her name is _Vasilisa_! Learn to pronounce it! Is not hard you mudak!”

 

Vasilisa raised an eyebrow as the principal stuttered. “Whatever the case may be, your daughter assaulted another student and we would greatly appreciate it if you spoke English so the rest of us could understand you!”

 

“If you want to speak German go back to Germany,” Derek's mother tossed out, glaring at the two Russians.

 

Vladimir raised an eyebrow. “ _German?_ ” Vasilisa shrugged. “ _Wait you speak German?_ ” A slow nod. Vladimir's eyes widened. “ _Huh. We'll talk about that later._ ”

 

“Mister Belikov please!” The principal yelled out, face beginning to turn red.

 

The blonde Russian just turned to glare back. “Chto?” He smirked as the principal, teacher, and mother all groaned. Vasilisa bit her tongue to hold in her snicker.

 

“Look, your daughter broke my sons nose! I'm going to have charges pressed against her!” Derek's mother finally screeched out.

 

The Russian just raised an eyebrow. “Against a seven year old? Your son antagonized her, you know that, da?”

 

The use of Russian just seemed to aggravate her even more. “I don't care! She broke his nose! And dislocated his wrist!”

 

“Dislocated wrist is easy fix,” Vladimir stated simply with a glance at Vasilisa. The little girl nodded in agreement.

 

The woman huffed. “I want her expelled!”

 

“If my daughter is expelled for defending herself against brat then I want him expelled too,” Vladimir retorted back, scowling at the woman.

 

The principal rubbed his temples. “Look, it's not fair that we expel only one, so why don't they both just go home. Take Derek to the doctor. It doesn't need to become a law thing, right? Kids will be kids.”

 

The mother flushed indignantly but didn't say anything, just grabbed Derek's hand and left the office in a huff with a quick, “I hope you have a good lawyer!” thrown over her shoulder.

 

Vladimir scowled at her but didn't say anything, just motioned for Vasilisa to follow him. _“You should have punched him in the face too,”_ he mumbled to her in Russian with a glare at the principal as they left.

 

“ _I can go back and break his nose. I bet he'll cry like a baby,”_ came the smooth reply. Vasilisa formed a fist and got ready to make a quick turn.

 

It was silent for a few solid moments as Vladimir honestly thought it over. He sighed and shook his head. “Nyet. Best not to. Then I get sued for real. Come on, I need to find a cheap lawyer just in case that crazy woman decides it's best to sue or whatever.”

 

The child wrinkled her nose but followed.

 

~oOo~

 

Matt was used to quite a few things being odd in his life. His senses were better than the average person, minus the whole sight thing. He ran around in a red devils suit and beat up criminals most nights. He was Catholic and the irony was not lost upon him. But finding out that the Russian who had saved his life in the tunnels two years ago was alive and was now his neighbor was taking some getting used to.

 

Vladimir didn't leave the apartment most of the day and never at night. Matt didn't want to just bust into the apartment to find out information and risk traumatizing the little girl. She was probably scared enough as is. So Matt was waiting for a good opportunity. And today was not his good opportunity moment it would seem as there was a knock on the other side of the firm's door.

 

His grin quickly disappeared as he recognized the now familiar heartbeats.

 

“Guys... we have clients,” Karen whispered as she walked to the door, heels clicking. “Hello and welcome to Nelson and Murdock.” She moved so that the two Russians could enter.

 

Vladimir raised an eyebrow as he stared at Matt. “You are my neighbor. You are lawyer?”

 

Matt smirked softly. “Obviously. Name is on the door, ah Ivan wasn't it?”

 

The Russian nodded. Foggy rolled his eyes and leaned closer to Matt to stage whisper, “He just nodded.”

 

“Thanks Foggy,” came Matt's dry response.

 

“I uh I think I need lawyer. My daughter,” his heart beat increased slightly, “got into a fight and the mother wants to press charges.”

 

Matt raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

 

“Wait, okay so she gets into a fight at school and the other kids' mom wants to press charges? That's really...” Foggy trails off as he thinks over this information. “What exactly happened? I mean she can't really press charges unless your daughter assau-”

 

“Vasilisa broke the boys nose,” Vladimir grumbled with a glare at the girl.

 

“He had it coming. If you'd have been there, you'd agree,” came the smart reply.

 

Matt had to bite his tongue to keep from saying anything, or worse, laughing. The child may not have been Vladimir's but she sure as hell seemed to have his temper. Maybe she wanted to go back to her real parents? She definitely didn't sound very happy.

 

Foggy glances over at Matt and then Karen. The two blondes seem to reach a quick conclusion. “Alright, Vasilisa, right?” Foggy pronounces the name slowly.

 

Vladimir grudgingly gives a nod.

 

The blonde grins. “Awesome! Vasilisa why don't you hang out with Karen while Matt and I talk to your daddy, okay?”

 

Vasilisa raises an eyebrow but slowly makes her way over to the grinning woman. Foggy nudged Matt's shoulder in the direction of his office, Vladimir following them. Foggy barely had the time to shut the door before Vladimir was pacing in front of his desk and talking to himself, seeming to forget that Matt and Foggy were even there.

 

“I can't just take care of the kid! Nyet! She has to go and get in fight on first day of school! Broke the bastard's nose! I am not good parent figure! I can't take care of her! I don't even have furniture in apartment for God's sake!” His accent became more prominent at the end and he threw himself into the chair in front of the desk, face buried in his palms as he groaned to himself.

 

Matt opened and closed his mouth in surprise a few times before Foggy awkwardly pat Vladimir's shoulder, choosing to ignore as the Russian scowled at him. “Hey man, you're doing fine. She's a cute kid and seems happy. I mean I'm sure she'll be happier once school gets a bit better, you know? Kids will be kids, right Matt?”

 

“Right. So let's try and uh go over what we can do if this woman decides to press charges against your seven year old daughter,” Matt interjected, quickly changing the topic back to why the Russians were at their firm.

 

Vladimir sighed.

 

Vasilisa watched disinterestedly as Karen grabbed some blank copy paper and pens. “So do you want to draw or something? I can try to find you a movie to watch if you prefer?” The blonde could tell that the child was less than amused. She looked five seconds too close to attempting to burn the building down.

 

The brunette just shrugged. “I can watch a movie.”

 

Karen grinned. “What are you in the mood for? I can find a Disney princess movie if you want?” Vasilisa jerked back. “Or not. That's cool too!” Karen pulled the laptop closer to her and began to Google. “So you're Russian?” She asked in an attempt for small talk as she typed and clicked on things.

 

“Da.”

 

“You may like this movie then. I used to love it when I was younger. Still do actually. It's a cute movie,” Karen said eagerly as she pat the chair beside her for Vasilisa to sit down. “If you'd like I can try and get the gum out of your hair?”

 

The child narrowed her eyes but slowly made her way to sit. “Alright.”

 

Karen began to tug gently at the auburn strands, Vasilisa not even moving. She'd had worse than a hair pulling. “Just cut it,” the child stated simply with a shrug.

 

“Uh will your dad be okay with that?” Karen asked, still trying to tug the gum out.

 

Vasilisa shrugged and handed the scissors over to the blonde. She turned her full attention to the movie as she felt her hair become lighter and brush against her cheeks.

 

At first she was disinterested in the movie, she just wanted to go back to the apartment. But as the movie progressed she became more and more swept into the magicalness of it. The movie was a third of the way over when Vladimir and the two lawyers stepped back out into the main room.

 

“So w-”

 

“Shh!” The two females yelled out, Karen throwing a pen at Foggy and Vasilisa throwing a stapler.

 

“Ow! Guys what the fu- ow! Okay okay sto- ow!” Foggy yelped out as more pens and pencils were thrown at him with surprising accuracy for two people who weren't even looking at him. Matt had to admit he was impressed too.

 

Vladimir just scowled and crossed his arms. “Come on Vasilisa.”

 

“Nyet.”

 

The only sound that was heard was the sound of the movie playing. Foggy and Matt turned to face Vladimir who had a look of utter shock on his face. You'd think he'd never been told no before, though, that may not be too far from the truth.

 

“Chto?” The Russian demanded, body stance changing from slightly relaxed to completely annoyed.

 

Vasilisa raised her head to stare at him. “Nein. Nyet. No. I am busy.” She turned back to face the computer screen, completely enraptured as the characters began to sing. A small grin began to form on her face making her seem a lot more like a normal happy child.

 

Karen glanced between the three men and the child. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. “We're watching _Anastasia_ if you want to join in?” She offered in an attempt to calm everyone back down.

 

Vladimir's mouth dropped open. “Why on earth would you let a seven year old watch something about Anastasia?!” He ran over to pick up Vasilisa and probably throw the laptop but stopped short as he saw the animated characters. “Wait... what the fuck is this shit?”

 

The females glared at him. “This is _Anastasia_ and it's not shit and watch your language! There is a child present!” Karen yelled back, pushing him away.

 

“You do realize that you just cussed, right?” Foggy asked in an exasperated tone. It wasn't even two in the afternoon and already he just wanted to go home. He held up his hands in a surrender pose as the blonde glared at him ferociously. Matt smirked.

 

Vasilisa stared at the screen for a few more moments. “Americans have middle names.” Her eyes never left the screen.

 

“So?” Vladimir huffed out. He stared at her in confusion. “Is your hair shorter?”

 

The little girl looked at him, “I want one.”

 

The Russian leaned back and made a face. “Why? Is your hair shorter?!” He repeated.

 

“I think Anastasia is a pretty. And she's a princess.” She leaned forward so that she could rest her elbows on the desk top and stared at the screen again. A small smile made its home once again on her face as Dimitri and Anya began to waltz on the boat.

 

“She's a duchess. And dead. Vasilisa is a princess and I'm not naming you Anastasia! What happened to your hair?!” Vladimir's accent became more prominent as he yelled the last sentence, face turning red.

 

Matt just raised an eyebrow as he heard the Russian's heartbeat increase while Vasilisa's stayed at a normal rate. Karen's had sped up as well.

 

Vasilisa frowned. “I don't care. I'm not leaving until the movie is finished.” There was a tone of finality and she let the subject drop, both the one about her hair and the movie. Vladimir scowled but let her have her way though he did grumble under his breath in Russian about her chopping her hair off and stupid American movies that can't get history right. And if he ended up liking the movie quite a bit, well he refused to admit to that. And if he gave in and gave Vasilisa the middle name Anastasia so that her name was now Vasilisa Anastasia Belikov, well he refused to say anything on the subject.

 

"I'll walk you back home," Matt offered with a small grin, forced but no one else could tell except for maybe Foggy, once the movie credits were over. The child had refused to get up as the songs continued. 

  
The Russians glanced at each other but didn't disagree. "Da. You can show us how to get back to shitty apartment," Vladimir mumbled as he grabbed onto Vasilisa's much tinier hand. He ignored Karen's disapproving stare easily.

  
  
The child frowned and looked at their hands. Her heart raced slightly Matt noticed with a frown. It quickly fell back to normal. Matt forced his cheerful grin back into place as he followed the Russians out of the office then the building.

  
  
It was a silent walk for the most part. Vasilisa kept stealing glancing at the hand wrapped around hers loosely. It wasn't hurting, more protective than anything. She wondered if the blonde even realized what he was doing. As he stared ahead and maneuvered the three of them around people she doubted it.

  
  
Vasilisa stopped walking suddenly as she looked across the street and stared straight at some puppies through the window of a shelter. Vladimir jerked to a stop with a noise. Matt stopped before he bumped into the taller Russian's side. Vladimir tugged on Vasilisa's hand. "Why you stop?"

  
  
She just pointed. "Can we see?"

  
  
Vladimir turned his head so that he could look at the puppies yipping around in their cages. He scowled. "I fucking hate lap dogs."

  
  
"Woof woof," came the cheerful reply.

  
  
Matt raised an eyebrow as Vladimir's heart slowed for a moment then sped up. Vladimir paled and felt as though his heart had just stopped. The little girl had just reminded him so much of his brother in just two words and it wasn't fair.

  
  
He looked down at her confused face for a moment. "Da. Fine," he mumbled lowly, "we can look."

  
  
She grinned and pulled on his hand and the three quickly crossed the street. Matt was even more confused than before. If he hadn't known Vladimir before he would have thought the Russian actually almost cared for the child.

  
  
Vasilisa was just a hair away from the glass. She tapped the window and giggled as two of the small terriers ran to the window to yip at her. She began to whisper to them in German about how cute they were.

  
  
Matt could tell that Vladimir was uncomfortable. "You're very good with her," he said softly.

  
  
Vladimir scoffed. "You are not seeing what I see."

  
  
Matt raised an eyebrow. "You don't say."

  
  
The Russian snickered softly. "I just meant she is confusing child. I am trying but I am not very good."

  
  
Matt nodded slowly. He was growing even more confused the more he and the Russian spoke. Vladimir was telling the truth.

  
  
"I think I keep trying," Vladimir continued, never taking his eyes off of the child.

  
  
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Not that I'm trying to convince you otherwise, but why the change of mind?"

  
  
A shrug. "More like change of heart.” He huffed out a small laugh as he thought back to the movie. “She... she reminded me of my brother." Vladimir didn't say anything else on the subject.

 

The blind man's frown deepened. "If you need a job Nelson and Murdock could use another secretary. Karen would probably love having Vasilisa around more often too." Nelson and Murdock was making more money now than it was two years ago and there did seem to be a lot more paperwork. Foggy would probably complain for a little bit but all in all be on board with having the Russian help Karen with paperwork. And also this way Matt could keep an eye, figuratively speaking, on Vladimir.

  
  
Vladimir turned sharply to stare at him. "Thanks." A simple reply, slightly forced but Matt could hear a a light edge of gratefulness to it. The ex-crime lord turned back to stare at the little girl who was still tapping the glass. He couldn't stop the warm grin that spread across his face. He quickly shook his head. He didn't want to become too attached to the child. The child was odd, he hadn't been lying. Not very many seven year olds could break a persons nose. Or dislocate a body part. Or speak three languages fluently with no accent whatsoever.

 

But he just brushed his worries away for now and called for Vasilisa to come back so that they could go back to the apartment in Russian. The trio continued to walk in silence, this time Vladimir had his hands in his pockets. The silence was bordering on awkward now.

 

“So do you have any hobbies Vasilisa?” Matt asked in an attempt to break the silence and to also find out more information about the more than likely kidnapped child.

 

Vasilisa stared straight ahead, eyes blank. “I like ballet. I'm one of twenty-eight of the best ballet dancers at my old school,” she recited, face growing paler as the words slipped out almost as smoothly as the German had.

 

Vladimir raised an eyebrow at her expression but didn't comment.

 

Matt just nodded. “I see.” He had noticed how she had paused, then her heart had sped up slightly, but not enough to how it would have if she had been lying. “Are you going to keep doing ballet?” He was more curious about what the Russians would say now.

 

“Uh...” She glanced at Vladimir, who just shrugged. “J-da.”

 

“ _I'll look into ballet classes tonight then,”_ Vladimir said in their native tongue. Vasilisa couldn't keep the smile off of her face. The blind man didn't say anything, just frowned and wished that he had taken Russian instead of Spanish in college.

 

~oOo~

 

When Clint finally found the twenty-seven girls he wished for a moment that he hadn't. There were twenty-seven little children doing flips in his kitchen and throwing his knives around like it was some sort of game. And when he had run forward and yelled frantically for them to stop they had all looked at him like he was the insane one.

 

Him! For being worried for their safety, he was the insane one. And now he was tied to the ceiling with the girls all grinning up at him. “Okay. Ha ha. You've had your fun, now let me go!” He yelled out, struggling against the ropes. He hated to admit it but damn they had tied the knots well.

 

“Nyet,” a strawberry blonde with hazel eyes giggled out. The others giggled louder as he huffed.

 

“Oh come on Maria!” Clint yelled out at her.

 

A brunette with brown eyes and freckles sprinkled across her nose 'whispered', “I think we should keep him up there for a bit longer. It's funny, yes?”

 

“No it is not Tatiana!” Clint huffed out.

 

Tatiana grinned cheekily. “I think so!” Most of the other girls nodded and laughed louder before running out of the kitchen.

 

It was another thirteen minutes before Clint was able to reach his phone and as soon as he held it in his hand he called Kate. “Hawkeye I need your help ASAP!” Was all he said as soon as she answered with a lazy, “Whaaaat?”

 

She snapped to attention. “Woah okay wait. What happened?”

 

“I went on a mission with Nat and Yelena and there were twenty-eight girls but now only twenty-seven and they're all Black Widow agents like Nat and I thought I could handle this Kate but I can't and now I'm tied to the fucking ceiling and need help! Bring reinforcements! But uh not the other Avengers.”

 

“Wait...” A pause. Clint waited. “You mean to tell me that there are twenty-eight-” “Twenty-seven.” “-more mini Natasha Romanoff's at your apartment?”

 

“No! Don't be silly Kate!”

 

“Oh thank Go-”

 

“We're at my farm in Iowa.”

 

“Oh my _God_ , Hawkeye! And you want me to come there!?”

 

Clint tried to shrug. “Well yeah. And bring Lucky. And pizza. I need to introduce these kids to some pizza.”

 

Silence.

 

“Kate?”

 

Nothing.

 

“Uh Katie Kate?”

 

“Hold on. I'm processing.”

 

Silence. Again.

 

“Okay I'm done. With you and this whole thing. But I'll be there as soon as I can. I have a date in ten.”

 

Clint nodded and made a face. “Finally get America to say yes? Or did you say yes to her?”

 

He could practically see her face turn red. “Oh my God! Shut up or I'm not saving your ass!” She hung up.

 

~oOo~

 

Vladimir was sitting on the floor with a slow laptop in his lap. True to his word he was looking up nearby ballet studios, though for the life of him he couldn't really understand why. But he was. He looked over at the sleeping child.

 

He wasn't stupid. He knew she hadn't been sleeping. He just chose not to say anything. It wasn't really his problem. She probably hadn't even meant to fall asleep.

 

With a glance back at the computer screen he typed the number into his phone. It was fairly easy to enroll a child. He'd go there tomorrow after dropping Vasilsa off at school and talk to the woman, this Miss Caron, and have Vasilisa go there after school while he was at work. Which was an odd thought to him and caused for him to shudder slightly. But he wasn't going to complain. He needed money. His supply was quickly dwindling down and he needed to get some furniture soon. If only to make Vasilisa stop making fun of him.

 

He shut the laptop down and went to stare out of the window. Hell's Kitchen was definitely as he remembered. And the Russian wasn't sure how he felt about that.

 

It was nearly two in the morning when Vasilisa began to stir. She thrashed around in the blanket and mumbled in German. Vladimir slowly looked at her and debated to go and wake her up. It wasn't until she mumbled a “ _Please no more_ ,” in Russian that he went to shake her awake though.

 

As soon as his hand came in contact with her she jerked awake and sat straight up. “Wha- chto?”

 

“You were having nightmare. Go back to sleep. Was just a dream,” Vladimir said simply, nudging her to lay back down. The pillow was lumpy he saw. As he looked closer he could see the outline of his gun. He narrowed his eyes.

 

“Chto?” Vasilisa asked quietly, still exhausted and already falling back into a light sleep.

 

“Nothing. Go back to sleep,” he lied easily.

 

And she did.

 

Matt meanwhile wondered what that had been about. He could hear the slight jump in Vladimir's pulse as the lie slipped out smoothly. This was becoming ever more confusing as the days went on.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far, this chapter and up are my favorite. I've just stared chapter 5 so hopefully I can upload chapter 4 within a few days or so.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Vasilisa sat in front of Derek again. Until Mrs. Smith had her moved to the back of the classroom. He made sure to stay away from her the rest of the day as well. As did most of the other kids. Mrs. Smith made sure to keep Vasilisa within her eyesight the rest of the day.

  
  
It wasn't until Vasilisa was slowly making her way to the ballet studio that Derek came up to her. "Hey Vasi- Vasa- uh Lisa?" He yelled as he ran over to her.

  
  
Vasilisa stopped but didn't turn to face him, forming fists at her sides.

  
  
"I uhm I wanted to apologize. For yesterday. For putting all that gum in your hair. And getting you into trouble. And making you cut your hair."

  
  
Vasilisa turned to stare at the shuffling boy. "Why?"

  
  
He looked up at her, face scrunching in confusion. "What do you mean?"

  
  
Vasilisa crossed her arms and glared, hair brushing her cheeks. "Why do you want to apologize?"

  
  
"Oh..." He trailed off. It was silent for a few moments more. "Because it was mean. And my dad said I deserved the punch in the face for being a bully to a lady."

  
  
Vasilisa raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

  
  
Derek nodded, blue eyes wide. "So I'm sorry that I bullied you."

  
  
The little girl nodded. "Very well. Now if you'll excuse me, I have ballet practice to get to." She turned to walk away.

  
  
"You're going the wrong way."

  
  
Vasilisa jerked to a stop, turning so fast that the slushy snow next to her got kicked away. "And how would you know that?"

  
  
He flushed slightly. "I like to watch the practices sometimes. My grandma says that boys can't do ballet, even though I've told her there are boys in the class. And my mom won't let me because she listens to my grandma."

  
  
Vasilisa frowned but didn't comment, just followed him as he led the way to the ballet studio. For the most part, Derek did all of the talking with Vasilisa nodding or shaking her head every once in a while until they stopped in front of the glass doors.

  
  
"Well here you are. Hey maybe you can show me how to punch one day!" Derek yelled with a bright grin.

  
  
Vasilisa felt her cheeks grow warm but nodded. "Da. Maybe. Do svidaniya Derek," she waved goodbye as she pushed the doors open.

  
  
Derek tilted his head but waved back all the same. "Uh yeah. Das veeya danya Vasalissa?" His Russian came out clumsy and wrong, some letters too prominent. Vasilisa just laughed loudly and shut the door. Derek groaned as he walked away from the building. His mother was expecting him home soon.

  
  
Vasilisa meanwhile walked to the mostly empty studio and spun slowly to take in her surroundings. The room had mirrors on the walls and high ceilings. Only a few other girls were huddled near the mirrors. The brunette didn't move to go closer.

  
  
Another girl came up behind her, hand reached out to tap her on the shoulder. Vasilisa grabbed the girl before she could even come in contact with her, she squeazed and the girl let out a gasp.

  
  
"H-hi. I'm Hannah. We have class together? You should have said you have ballet," the girl, Hannah, said with a grin, brown eyes almost shinning.

  
  
Vasilisa dropped her wrist. "And why is that?"

  
  
Hannah rolled her eyes and rubbed her wrist. "I coulda walked you here." Vasilisa raised an eyebrow. "So you're from Boston"

  
  
The brunette shrugged.

  
  
Hannah squealed. "That's so cool! Isn't that where Captain America is from?"

  
  
Vasilisa shrugged.

  
  
Hannah just giggled. "I don't know for sure either. There's a lot of super heroes. You should come hang out with the rest of us! Miss Caron will be here in a bit. She's always late," Hannah explained as she led Vasilisa towards the other girls.

  
  
The four other girls all stopped talking to look at them as they neared.

  
  
"Hey guys! This is Vasilisa! She's from Boston and she broke a boys nose yesterday!" Hannah exclaimed with a grin as she showed off her new friend.

  
  
One girl, probably Korean, wrinkled her nose. "That's gross. Was there blood all over the place? My daddy says that he got his nose broke once and there was so much blood!"

  
  
Before Vasilisa could even say anything Hannah was talking again. "Yeah there was! It was so cool!"

  
  
The four girls giggled. "Hi," the Korean girl waved softly. "My name is Mina. That's," she pointed to a dark skinned girl next to her, "Lachelle."

  
  
"Hi hi!"

  
  
Mina pointed to the Latina. "She's Isabella."

  
  
"Call me Izzy! I don't like Bella. I already know I'm pretty, I don't need my name to tell me so," Izzy explained with a grin.

  
  
"And this is Laney," Mina said as she tapped the last girl on the knee.

  
  
Laney grinned. "My parents are from the Phillipines so Izzy and I both speak Spanish!"

  
  
Izzy leaned forward. "We're teaching the others and if you want, we'll teach you too!"

  
  
Vasilisa was slightly overwhelmed but nodded all the same. "Alright. Sure."

 

Izzy and Laney high-fived each other with a loud 'whoop'.

 

Hannah gasped. “Guys! What if you two teach us Spanish and Vasilisa teaches us how to punch people better?! We can make our own club of Spanish speaking-ballet dancing-butt kicking super heroes!”

 

The other four seemed to think it was the best idea they had ever heard of and quickly agreed. Hannah shook Vasilisa. “Come on! It's official! You so gotta teach us how to butt kick now!”

 

The Russian spy stared at each girl for a long moment before slowly nodding. She dropped her back pack and kicked it away. “Very well. First thing first, your mission is to locate the target. Then exterminate it.”

 

The girls nodded seriously, standing up straight.

 

“Second you have to make a fist that will hurt the one you are attacking and not yourself,” she positioned their hands correctly.

 

Izzy hopped in place. “Ooh! Could you teach us how to do some of those cool ninja spy moves? Where you flip around and can cartwheel and knock a person out?”

 

Vasilisa scoffed. “I can show you how to do that. That's easy stuff.”

 

So she began to put them in position and show them. And when Miss Caron finally walked into the studio she let out a shrill scream as she saw the five seven year old girls throwing knives and flipping around to dodge said thrown knives. “What is going on in here?!” She yelled out. As she looked around she saw some of the other children with their backs pressed to the mirrors. They were all watching the five girls with apprehension, some with looks close to hero worship.

 

“We're doing flips Miss Caron!” Laney said with a giggle as she dodged a knife being thrown at her face. The woman yelped and covered her eyes.

 

“Stop it right this instant!” The young woman yelled, hands still over her eyes.

 

Vasilisa pocketed the tiny knife. Izzy and Laney sat down while Lachelle, Mina, and Hannah dropped their borrowed knives back into Vasilisa's back pack. Miss Caron finally lifted her hands from her eyes and glared slightly at the children. All but Vasilisa looked ashamed. “And who are you?” The woman asked Vasilisa with a frown.

 

The Russian stood up straighter. “Vasilisa Anastasia Belikov.” The corners of her mouth lifted slightly but quickly fell back into an impassive frown.

 

Miss Caron snapped her fingers. “That is right. Your dad came in this morning and had you enrolled. Now young lady, this is a ballet studio, not a karate dojo.” She quickly looked around. “Now children. As most of you know we are going to have a small performance in a couple weeks where we will be performing some popular ballet performances. We will perform Tchaikovsky's 'Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy', 'Waltz of the Flowers', and 'March of the Toy Soldiers' from 'The Nutcracker' as well as the waltz and theme from Swan Lake, and finally the 'Infernal Dance' and 'Finale' of Stravinsky's 'Firebird'. So we will hold auditions for parts next week, alright?”

 

There was a rush of excited whispers as the children huddled together. The teacher grinned and clapped her hands together, a hush falling over the children. “Now then, first position!”

 

Vasilisa ended up being slightly clumsy with most, if not all, of the moves. She had never actually done ballet, just had false memories put into her head that she had done ballet and so her muscles weren't used to the moves. But she quickly began to get the hang of it.

 

She grabbed her back pack, returned the ballet flats back to Hannah, and made to leave the studio with the other girls but stopped as her shoulder was grabbed in a light, yet steady grip. “Miss Belikov, if you'd please wait I'd like to have a meeting with you and your father.” Miss Caron left no room for discussion as she lead the sighing child to her office.

 

~oOo~

 

Foggy and Matt were listening to Karen as she showed Vladimir how to do the paperwork. Matt had told Foggy about Vladimir and now the blonde was more hesitant about having the Russian work in such a close proximity to them. “I just don't think it's a great idea man,” he had said that morning before Vladimir had shown up.

 

Matt had nodded. “I agree, trust me I do, but I need to keep an eye on him.” He ignored Foggy's scoff. “You know what I mean.”

 

“Why don't we just have him arrested?” Foggy had practically hissed back.

 

“He has this kid with him. I just want to find out what's going on. Then he can be thrown in jail for all I care.” This had been enough for Foggy. More or less.

 

And now Karen was trying to get Vladimir to help sort out paperwork. He was not enjoying and was complaining the whole time. Karen was growing sick of his attitude rather quickly.

 

“Dude,” Foggy leaned closer to Matt as he whispered, “I think Karen's about to kick Comrade Rasputin's ass!”

 

Matt choked. “What?”

 

“Rasputin! Come on man! He was kind of super creepy. Didn't you pay attention in history?” Foggy tried to explain.

 

The blind man just raised an eyebrow.

 

Foggy waved him away. “Oh fuck you. No one appreciates my jokes.”

 

There was a loud thud noise. Then Karen was yelling, “I can't work with you! Oh my God! You do not need to be swearing every other word you fucking dick! And one mo-”

 

Vladimir's phone buzzing interrupted her tirade. He let out a loud groan as he saw the contact.

 

Karen huffed. “Go ahead. Answer it. I can wait. Because I am not done yet.”

 

Slowly the Russian answered. “Hello?”

 

“Mister Belikov?”

 

A sigh. “Da. What'd she do?”

 

“Oh. Uh. Right. Your daughter brought knives to class and was teaching some of the other students how to throw them and dodge them today.”

 

Vladimir thunked his head into the wall. “You want me to pick her up?”

 

Silence, then a quieter, “Well yes please. I was hoping to have a longer meeting about this. This is a serious-”

 

“Da. I understand. I'll get her and fix problem,” Vladimir said with another sigh before he hung up. “This child is going to be death of me. I have to go. Vasilisa was throwing knives at ballet practice today,” he explained before leaving.

 

Foggy and Karen just stared at the shut door with shocked looks. “What seven year old brings knives to a ballet practice?” Karen gasped out, bring a hand to cover her mouth.

 

Matt made a face. “You have to admit, that's not the weirdest thing we've heard about.”

 

“I don't know man. It's pretty high on the list that's for sure,” Foggy retorted back, shock obvious in his voice.

 

~oOo~

 

Vasilisa could tell that Vladimir was more than just a little peeved as he came into the office. _“It hasn't even been two days and you're already in trouble again. Why? What would make you think it's a good idea to bring knives to ballet? There are no knives in the ballet! This is America! Do you want to be branded a fucking terrorist?!”_

 

The child groaned but didn't say anything.

 

Vladimir turned to face Miss Caron. “I'm very sorry my daughter can't be a normal child. I take her home now.” He grabbed a hold of Vasilisa's hand and nearly jerked her from the chair.

 

It was obvious from his posture that he was still annoyed as he threw open the apartment door and nearly threw her in. “What the fuck?!”

 

“Chto?” Vasilisa asked, wincing as he hit the wall.

 

“ _Don't even do that! What's wrong with you?! You're not normal! You don't sleep! You thought I didn't notice that? You're hoarding food!_ ” He kicked her blankets and showed the bags of chips and cookies wrapped in napkins. “ _You sleep with my gun under your pillow!_ ” Her pillow went flying and there was his gun, just as he had said. She paled. “ _You speak three languages and have no accent! You were teaching other children how to fight?! You broke a kids nose! Are you even human?!_ ” He felt like how was justified in his question. The world was beginning to be a lot different. Aliens raining from the sky. Gods. A giant green monster.

 

" _ I'm sorry I failed the mission. _ " A moment of silence. Then two. Then her eyes widened as her brain caught up to what she had just said.

  
  
Vladimir's eyes narrowed and he huffed before throwing his arms up in the air. " _ What mission?! I don't know what you're talking about! What is wrong with you?! _ "

  
  
She bit her lip and looked straight ahead, careful to keep her expression blank.

  
  
Vladimir threw his arms up again before running a hand through his hair with a huff. " _ And now you are doing that silent thing again! I can't do this! I should never have brought you with me! _ " He plopped himself onto the floor, ignoring how uncomfortable it was. He kicked the gun away with a scowl. “ _ What was I thinking? Bringing a child with me. Trying to be a parent. I'm not a good person. I don't know how to be a parent. What was I fucking thinking? _ ” He mumbled to himself.

  
  
The little girl gasped but quickly bit her lip and looked down. She ignored as tears began to build in the corners of her eyes.  _ 'I can't tell. I can't, I can't, but I have to,'  _ she thought in a frantic panic. "I haven't been completely honest with you _...”  _

 

Vladimir scoffed and didn't even look at her. “ _ No shit. _ ” He continued to speak in Russian.

 

“I... _I am number fourteen of the Black Widows in the new Red Room. I'm from Russia. I was taken to Germany, to an ex Soviet base from World War II, when I was four years old._ " She spoke quickly but clearly, her heart racing wildly against her chest. She was almost sure that he could hear it.  
  
Vladimir was staring at her, face pale, as he began to slowly process what she had just said. " _Black Widow? Like... Natalia Romanova?_ ”

 

She shook her head. “ _ No. Better. _ ”

 

“ _I thought it was a myth. My brother and I both did. Everyone did._ " He thought over her actions. How fast she was at times. How she broke the boys nose. But it wasn't possible; right?

  
  
Vasilisa bit her bottom lip. "I needed to get away."

  
  
"So you used me,” he said simply, taking her lead as she switched back to English. 

  
  
She thought this over. Then nodded. "We used each other and you know it," came her soft reply. Her heart was still racing. She didn't understand why she was scared. She could take him if it came down to it. She was sure of it. 

  
  
A sigh. "Da. I suppose you are right." There was a tense silence. " _ Do you want to stay with me? _ " Vladimir asked softly, refusing to look up from the floor as his ears turned a light shade of pink. " _ I won't make you. _ "

  
  
Vasilisa frowned. "I..." She could hear her heart thumping wildly against her chest. "Da. I think... I think I'd like to stay... If you'll let me."

 

He just nodded.

 

Neither said anything as she sat down beside him. He just reached over and grabbed the bag of chips, opened it, and offered her some.

 

~oOo~

 

Two Russian women were now back in Germany and looking over the remains of the base that had been there not even a week ago.

 

Yelena nudged a broken part of the wall with her foot and humphed with satisfaction as it fell. “I think it is obvious that no one is here. Any other suggestions on where to look?”

 

Natasha shook her head. “She could be anywhere. She avoided all cameras. There were several flights that day. And then more flights leaving from those.”

 

The blonde huffed again. She began to pace slightly, kicking any rocks out of the way.

 

“And we have another problem as well,” Natasha said simply, interrupting the blonde's thoughts. “Someone came here and blew this place up. That could mean that HYDRA has the girl or that they had this base blown up because it's not exactly the most subtle of bases.”

 

Yelena nodded with an exasperated expression. “Germans,” she mumbled.

 

Natasha let out a scoff laugh but didn't disagree.

 

A shot rang out nearby, both Russians jumping away and grabbing their own guns as they began to look around for the shooter. Natasha shot as she saw a glint of silver. Yelena took a step back as the soldier came towards them, gun aimed and ready to fire at them.

 

He stared at them for a moment, confusion beginning to cloud his eyes as he stared hard at Natasha. Slowly he whispered, “Natalia?”

 

Yelena jerked to look at the red head.

 

Natasha dropped her gun but didn't move otherwise.

 

~oOo~

 

It was nearly half past eight when Vladimir finally broke the silence, a silence that had somehow become rather comfortable for the two Russians. " _If you and I are going to be living together we need to set up some ground rules_ ," Vladimir stated, placing the bag of chips back on the floor.

  
  
Vasilisa slowly nodded. " _ Alright. Seems fair. _ "

  
  
" _ First, no more guns. No more knives _ ," he pointedly looked at her bag. " _ No targets. No briefings, _ " she giggled softly, " _ and no exterminations. _ "

  
  
She giggled again. " _ I can accept these terms. _ "

  
  
Vladimir raised an eyebrow. " _ And lastly, _ " she frowned, " _ what can I do to help you sleep? You need sleep. _ "

  
  
She moved her package of cookies away. " _ We _ ..." She sighed and refused to look at him. " _ We used to use hand cuffs to keep us in our beds. They sort of became... I don't know... _ " The child rubbed at her left wrist almost in a daze.

  
  
" _ Like a security blanket _ ?" Vladimir asked, supplying the word helpfully.

  
  
She nodded. " _ Exactly that I suppose _ ."

  
  
The Russian thought this information over. He could get handcuffs. But furniture was begining to be his downfall it seemed. " _ I can get furniture soon. I hope. Sleeping on floor is not very fun. _ " He looked around at their space.

 

Wrinkled blankets laid in two heaps across the room; one pile next to the far wall and the other near the window. The food was now in the middle of the room between Vladimir and Vasilisa who sat cross legged across from each other.

  
  
" _ But I've had worse, _ " both said at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise.

  
  
Vasilisa looked down. " _ Where have you slept that's been worse? _ " She asked almost shyly.

  
  
Vladimir raised an eyebrow at her tone but didn't comment on it. " _ Prison _ ."

  
  
She pursed her lips. " _ What'd you do? _ "

  
  
He shook his head. " _ Nothing that you need to worry about. And you? Where have you slept that's worse than the floor? _ " He clarified as she looked at him with mild confusion.   
  
She shrugged. " _ Solitary confinement in an ex Soviet Base in the winter in Berlin, Germany. _ "

  
  
He shook his head. " _ Odd pair we make. _ "

  
  
She grinned back. He stood up and brushed invisible dirt off of himself. " _ Where are you going? _ "

  
  
" _ I can't really buy furniture just yet, _ " he said as he slipped his shoes back on, " _ but I can probably mug a cop for handcuffs. _ "

  
  
Vasilisa made a face. " _ Then you'll be sleeping in prison again. _ "

  
  
The blonde man shrugged. " _ I am sure that American prison is much better than Russian prison, _ " was all he said before shutting the door behind him.

  
  
Vasilisa stared at the door confusedly. He wasn't actually going to mug a cop... Right? She sighed and said, "He's going to mug a cop."

 

Unbeknownst to her, Matt was in his apartment and had heard her. He began to change into the red Daredevil suit, tense and with a frown. He had actually begun to think that Vladimir wasn't going to do anything illegal. Maybe the guy really had wanted to start over.  _ 'Apparently not, _ ' Matt thought with a scoff as he jumped out the window. 

 

It didn't take him long to find the Russian. Vladimir was less than a block away from the police station when Daredevil landed in front of him. “ _ Jesus Christ! What the fuck?! _ ” The Russian yelled, leaning his back against the nearest building, heart racing. 

 

Matt smirked, which seemed to piss the Russian off more than the scare. “Sorry, still don't speak asshole.”

 

“Mudak,” Vladimir spat back. He made a face. “What's with new suit?”

 

The blind man was taken aback. “Excuse me?”

 

Vladimir made a vague gesture towards Matt. “Suit, what is with that?”

 

“I needed a new suit to fight Fisk.” Matt scowled as he defended his new suit.

 

The Russian scoffed. “Pity. I like old one better,” was all he said before lunging forward to punch the vigilante in the face. Matt grabbed his wrist and twisted, causing for Vladimir to fall to the ground.

 

“What are you doing in Hell's Kitchen and how are you al-” was all the blind man could get out before he was kicked onto his back.

 

“ _What the fuck now?_ ” Vladimir mumbled to himself in his native tongue again as he looked up at the little girl who was slowly climbing off of Daredevil's chest.

 

Matt blinked repeatedly from behind his mask as he listened to the Russians argue and tried to get a grip on what had just happened.

  
  
"We just talked about this! We literally just talked about this! Remember?! What did we say?"Vladimir yelled out, shaking the small child by her shoulders.

  
  
Vasilisa let herself sway for a moment. "To not act abnormal?"

  
  
"That's right! And what did you just do?!"

  
  
Vasilisa looked at the man on his back then up at Vladimir. "Something... not normal?"

  
  
Vladimir began to shake her again. "You did something abnormal! Again!"

  
  
Daredevil finally sat up and 'watched' them. "Did... did I just get kicked in the face?" He asked, interrupting their spat, mostly just confused but slightly irritated.

  
  
The Russians looked at him almost as if asking why he was still there. "Da. I'm almost sorry actually. But we'll be on our way now, man in mask.”

 

“You can't just leave,” Matt said with a scowl as he took a step closer to the blonde.

 

Vasilisa narrowed her eyes and stepped forward, fist raised. “If you try to touch my papa again I'll kick you in your stupid masked face, arscholch!” Once again the German curse word slipped from her mouth easily.

 

Matt raised an eyebrow but didn't move or say anything. Vladimir sighed and rolled his eyes before grabbing her by her shoulders. “I have little girl defending my honor now. How cute, right?” He asked, half jokingly, half serious with a smirk.

 

Daredevil shook his head but let them leave. He knew where they lived, if they caused any problems, he would deal with them then. As he waited atop a building and listened to his surroundings he mentally went over what had just happened. Any other time the girl had said Vladimir was her dad her heart rate had increased, signaling that she was lying. But this time her pulse had stayed steady.

 

~oOo~

 

People were walking down the clean, white halls in silence, eyes focused on their clip boards as they quickly made their way to whatever room they needed to be at. A younger man, late twenties probably, walked into a room with other scientists who were looking at DNA hologram samples.

 

“How are the tests looking?” A man in a suit asked. He was the head of this experiment. It had been his idea to restart the Black Widow program. At first things were going well. The girls were reacting positively to the serum transfusions, were starting to show signs of increased metabolism and strength. And then the base in Germany had been brought down and the girls stolen away to who knows where.

 

A woman shook her head and took her glasses off. “This is the DNA from Jean Grey, one of the most powerful mutants,” she almost spat out the word like it physically pained her, “there was. You cannot honestly want to genetically change the children to have this power. It may not even work!”

 

The man frowned. “Then we make it work.”

 

She scowled and placed her hands on her hips. “It's not that simple, don't you understand? We would have to probably genetically change their DNA structure. Just because they have the super serum in them doesn't mean that they'll live. And to put this much power into twenty-eight children!”

 

He smirked. “Oh we're not making all twenty-eight have Jean Grey's powers; just one. Another will have the powers of another mutant,” he also said the word like it was poison, “such as perhaps the one they call Storm. Another with Emma Frost's powers. And so on. If it won't work, then we make it work.”

 

She pursed her lips but nodded and turned back to look over the DNA samples.

 

The man made a face as he held up a tube of blood. “It's so easy to get a hold of samples nowadays. They practically just leave it for us. And then they go and run their own tests to look at their DNA and try to discover how their mutations occur. Fascinating stuff, wouldn't you agree doctor?”

 

She didn't say anything, just gave a tiny smirk.

 

“Isn't it odd how we all, every normal human, hates mutants, yet everyone tries to make their own? I mean, we're doing it right now!” He continued with a laugh.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be an extremely long ass chapter. I thought about cutting it in half but most of this was written in parts on my phone then just put together in a word document. So sorry if it's sort of rushed I just haven't had much free time lately and I don't think I'm going to get any for a bit. Or at least it feels that way.

There is a sense that everyone has. It's the sense that tells you when something bad is about to happen. Spider-Man called it his 'Spidey-Sense' and sure it was a bit better than Kate's super sense of danger but she still had one.

 

She had dubbed it her 'Clint is doing something ridiculously stupid' sense.

 

A mouthful sure, but named accurately. Quite accurately she thought to herself once she was sure that it was safe to come out from behind the car, 'borrowed' from Tony Stark. One side now had over two dozen scratches from plastic arrows in it.

 

Kate stood up after another moment to collect herself, then glared with her hands on her hips at the confused looking blonde. “Clinton Barton what the fuck even?!”

 

Wanda and Pietro just looked between the two Hawkeyes, deciding it would be better to let the younger Hawkeye yell at Clint.

 

Clint rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Aw, kids, no. Kate they were the rubber arrows from the dollar store. They're supposed to have suction cup tips. Girls why aren't there suction cup tips anymore?”

 

The children all giggled and ran back into the house, their plastic bows being dragged behind them. Lucky gave a loud bark before running after the girls, causing for them to let out high pitched squeals

 

Kate marched her way over to Clint and just crossed her arms, hip out a bit.

 

“What is with everyone stealing my dog from me? What? Oh c'mon Katie. I didn't think they'd take the rubber off and sharpen the ends. Ow!” Clint yelped as the brunette punched him in the arm. He rubbed at the quickly forming bruise. “What was that for?”

 

“What do you think?” She hissed out before pushing her way past him and into the large house.

 

Clint frowned but followed after her with the Maximoff twins slowly trailing after him. Kate looked around the kitchen, checking the cabinets and fridge. It was just as she'd feared; other than the disappointment it was empty. “Clint?”

 

“Sup?” The archer answered, mouth full of Lucky Charms. He was leaning against the doorway with the box in one hand. Pietro and Wanda stood further behind him and watched the two while briefly taking in the surroundings.

 

“How long have you guys been here?”

 

Clint swallowed the food with a slight grimace. “I don't know. A day I guess?”

 

Kate's frown seemed to deepen. “What have you guys been eating?”

 

Wanda shared a look with her twin. Pietro made a gesture as if to say wait a moment.

 

“Cereal,” Clint answered back with an eyeroll and in a tone that said duh.

 

“There's no milk,” Clint shrugged and watched as Kate picked up a box of Cheerios and looked it over, “and this cereal is expired,” Kate finished, tone full of sass as she held up the expired cereal.

 

Clint shrugged. “It's still edible,” he defended himself, still munching on his Lucky Charms.

 

“It's expired,” Kate repeated.

 

Pietro nodded and silently lifted his sister before quickly taking off, the little girls watching after the two in awe.

 

Clint shook his box of cereal. “Don't diss Katie-Kate.”

 

The young woman groaned. “Clint they're kids! They need healthy and nutritious! Not cardboard and tears!”

 

Clint made a noise as if appalled. “I do not feed them tears!” He denied.

 

Kate raised an eyebrow. “You don't deny feeding them cardboard.”

 

The elder man made a face as he ate another bite of the stale cereal. “Well you're kinda not wrong. Huh?” He looked down at the dirty blonde haired child who had tugged on his pants to get his attention. “What's up Sonya?”

 

“The fast man is back and he has stuff,” Sonya said quickly before dashing into the living room.

 

Clint tilted his head. “Fast man? Who the fuck is here with my chickenettes?!” He yelped before turning to the living room.

 

Kate face-palmed. “I am too young to be dealing with this sort of stress,” she groaned out.

 

~oOo~

 

Vasilisa was the first awake. Although really she hadn't slept again. She's been on edge the previous night and she still couldn't sleep. Though she did feel a lot safer now. She was also growing more confident that she wouldn't be found; by the three people who'd taken them away from HYDRA or by HYDRA.

 

She spent over an hour looking out of the window, watching birds fly by and the city grow more and more awake. It was silent in the apartment until Vladimir's alarm went off for five straight minutes until he hit snooze. Vasilisa rolled her eyes at him but still grinned at the man. She didn't know what a parent was supposed to be like, but Vladimir had done what no one else had for her, he cared. He gave her food. Took her somewhere safe, though he hadn't known about her. And even when she told him he still wanted her around. He'd taken her side when she'd broken Derek's nose even. She didn't have anything to compare it to, but she felt like he was doing a good job as a parent.

  
  
Ten minutes and Vladimir was hitting the snooze button again, this time with a mumble in Russian that Vasilisa couldn't hear. Another ten and more curses.

  
  
Unbeknownst to either of the Russians Matt was in his apartment across the hall groaning with a pillow over his head. "Oh my God! Please just get your lazy ass up already! My ears can't take much more of this," the blind man groaned out as the Russian's alarm went off again.

  
  
Finally there was a yell and what Matt imagined to be Russian cursing before, "Why didn't you wake me up?! You're late for school!" A thud noise. Another Russian curse. A giggle. "Shut up," Vladimir mumbled before there was another thud.

  
  
Vladimir groaned as he went through the smaller duffel bag. "Why don't you have any clean clothes?"

  
  
Vasilisa wrinkled her nose. "I don't know how to do laundry," came the quick response.

  
  
The Russian scowled and tossed a pair of tights and a lacy dress at her. "Uh wear those! Grab shoes! Hurry!" He said as he grabbed his own clothes and shoes.

  
  
Once the two were dressed and Vladimir had Vasilisa's back pack in hand he made a face as he looked her over. "I am forgetting something," he answered her unasked question.

  
  
The two stared at each other. "I have to brush my teeth!" Vasilisa shouted before running to the bathroom.

  
  
Vladimir snapped his fingers. "Da! Hurry!"

  
  
Matt was now in his kitchen listening to the two rush about with a small smirk.

  
  
"Okay let's go!" He heard Vladimir yell before the door was thrown open and then slammed shut.

  
  
The two hailed a cab, gave the address, then waited impatiently for the slow traffic to speed up.  Vladimir groaned. " _ We could probably walk there faster than this _ ," he mumbled in Russian.

  
  
Vasilisa nodded. " _ I'm going to be late. _ "

  
  
" _ Remember _ -"

  
  
" _ No weapons. I don't have any today _ ," the child interrupted with a grin.

  
  
Vladimir couldn't help the small grin that he gave back. " _ Good girl. _ "

  
  
It was silent but for the cars honking their horns and people yelling. "I'll pick you up from ballet today. Yesterday morning the lady said you had practice every day this week and next," Vladimir said, not even turning to face the child.

  
  
Vasilisa noted that the tips of his ears were a light pink.  _ 'Embarrassed maybe?'   _ She thought before turning away with a giggle. "Da. There's a recital next Friday."

  
  
The blonde man looked at her now in interest. "Oh? What are you performing?"

  
  
"Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and The Firebird."

  
  
Vladimir looked away as he became lost in thought. "My brother and I liked the music for The Firebird as children. Vasilisa the Wise was his favorite story. Mine was The Firebird and Princess Vasilia," he said then made a face as if to say he had not really meant to say as much as he had.

  
  
Vasilisa tilted her head. "I've never heard them before. Are they good?"

  
  
"Of course! Tell me you've at least heard of Bab Yaga?"

  
  
Vasilisa gave him a dry look. Vladimir just laughed. "Da, I tell you them tonight," Vladimir promised.

  
  
The child grinned but didn't say anything and neither did he.

  
~oOo~

  
"Oh my god!" Karen yelped, clasping a hand over her mouth as she rushed over to Matt. She moved his face so she could get a better look at his eye. "What happened Matt?" She asked, eyebrows scrunching closer in concern as she looked him over.

  
  
The blind man had a black eye, the bruising a nasty mix of blues and blacks and purples and looked painful.

  
  
Matt forced a sheepish grin. "Is it bad?"

  
  
Foggy scoffed. "Man you look like a doorknob just beat your face."

  
  
Karen rolled her eyes but didn't disagree. Matt opened his mouth to respond when the door opened behind him. The trio turned to face Vladimir who gave a noise as he entered the office and saw Matt's face.  "What happened to your face?"

  
  
The blind man narrowed his eyes but quickly put his sheepish grin back into place. "Foggy's not too far from the truth actually. Tripped this morning when I was looking for my shoes and fell into the bedroom doorknob. Guess I should see about getting that seeing eye dog, huh Foggy?"

  
  
Foggy and Karen just shared a look before the blonde man nodded slowly. "Probably Matty. Can't have you falling into doorknobs. Not that great for business."

  
  
Vladimir made a face but didn't say anything, just thought back to the conversation he'd had with Vasilisa in the cab. It must have been obvious that he wasn't listening to Karen because all of a sudden she was snapping her fingers less than an inch away from his face.

  
  
He looked down at her scowling face. "You back with us?" He glanced around and saw Foggy watching them wearily, Matt with a blank expression as he listened to them.

  
  
"Da. Izvinite," he mumbled almost sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

  
  
Karen raised an eyebrow but her scowl went away. "Everything okay?"

  
  
The Russian nodded. "Da. I uh... My daughter! She has performance next Friday. And... _And I can't believe she's never heard of Baba Yaga! I mean it makes sense what with how she grew up but still. What self respecting Russian doesn't know about Baba Yaga_?!" He finished in Russian with a look of utter defeat.

  
  
The blind man raised an eyebrow. "We don't speak a- Russian, you know that, right?" He asked dryly.  Vladimir scowled back though it went unseen.

  
  
"Vasilisa's in dance?" Karen asked.

  
  
The Russian nodded. "Da. Ballet."

  
  
"That's so adorable! Can we come to the performance?" Karen asked excitedly, giving Foggy a frown as the man sighed.  Vladimir glanced between the two before looking at Matt. Matt had his head tilted and seemed interested. "Uh da?"

 

  
~oOo~

  
Derek was once again walking Vasilisa to ballet class but today Hannah was walking with them. "That's so cool about the recital! Are you two gonna audition or anything?" The boy asked excitedly.

  
  
Hannah shrugged. "I may try out for the lead dance role in the Sugar Plum Fairy. How about you Vasilisa?" She still stumbled a bit over the Russian girl's name.

  
  
The brunette smiled shyly. "I kind of want the lead role for the Firebird Finale. My papa likes The Firebird. And the princess and I share the same name."

  
  
The other two children stared at her in wonder. "That's so cool that you have the name of a princess!" Derek said, awe in his eyes.

  
  
Hannah nodded quickly in agreement.

  
  
Vasilisa just grinned even more as the two Americans continued talking. Soon enough they were at the door of the studio and Derek was sullenly walking away again. Hannah began to pull Vasilisa towards Mina, Lachelle, and Izzy.

  
  
The green eyed girl plopped down onto the floor, bag in her lap. "I think I wanna have the lead for the Sugar Plum Fairy. What do you guys wanna do?"

  
  
Izzy stopped her stretching and gave a shrug. "Not too sure. I may just dance. I don't really care."

  
  
Mina looked Hannah and Vasilisa over. "You two need to change into practice clothes before Ms. Caron gets here. She wasn't too happy when you didn't wear your leotard and stuff yesterday Vasilisa."

  
  
Hannah nodded and stood. "We'll be right back then," she said brightly as she grabbed a hold of Vasilisa.

  
  
Vasilisa almost gently pulled Hannah off of her. "I don't have any ballet clothes," she said simply with a shrug.

  
  
The other four girls looked at her with frowns. "But didn't you used to do ballet?" Lachelle asked.

  
  
Vasilisa nodded. "I lost my stuff in the move."

  
  
Lachelle pulled her bag closer. "I have some old tights in here that you can have. They're pink and have a hole on the foot but they should work until you can get your own, right?" The girl pulled out the tights and even though they were slightly faded from being worn and washed they were still a vibrant cotton candy pink.

  
  
Vasilisa timidly took the tights with a thankful smile. "Thank you."

  
  
Izzy dug through her bag now. "I have an old leotard they should fit you! We're about the same size I think," she said, grinning when she found the leotard.

  
  
"You can have my old shoes too!" Hannah pulled a shoe at a time to give to Vasilisa.

  
  
Mina dug through her bag. "I have an old pink wrap skirt you can have too," she said as she handed said skirt to the Russian.

  
  
Now that Vasilisa had everything she'd need for the day Hannah gleefully grabbed her by the arm and began to lead the way to the changing rooms. The clothes fit Vasilisa well enough and once she was dressed, she and Hannah were back out in the studio with the other children. They didn't have to wait long before Ms. Caron was there and they were told “First position kids!”

 

Practice went on for an hour and a half and when it was time for it to be over, Vasilisa was out of breath and sore, a feeling she hadn't had in a long time. “Alright children, we've practiced over each song we'll be dancing to so I want for you to go home and practice if you can. Remember, try outs will be this Friday, just two days from now. Next week we'll be going over the steps some more and making the costumes. Great practice today!”

 

The children made their way to the dressing rooms and began to change back into their regular clothes. Everyone began to chatter to each other as they left in groups, some children running to their parents straight away as others tried to continue talking to their friends. Vasilisa ran over to Vladimir when she saw him standing by himself, away from the other parents. He uncrossed his arms and picked her up as she ran to him. “ _You're heavy. I need to get us normal food,_ ” he mumbled before placing her back on the ground. “ _The junk food is bad for you, I'm sure of it_.”

 

She scrunched her nose up. “ _I like cookies for breakfast. Which I did not get to eat today._ ”

 

“ _Should have woken me up,_ ” Vladimir said with a shrug. They began to walk out of the building, Vladimir reaching for Vasilisa's hand as they hailed a cab down.

 

Karen made a face as the small Russian family walked into the office. Vladimir noticed and scowled back at her. "What did I do wrong now? I just got here!"   
  
Karen shook her head and pointed at Vasilisa. "What on earth is she wearing?"

 

Vasilisa wrinkled her nose as she saw Matt. "What happened to your face?"

  
  
Matt groaned. "Is everyone going to ask that? I tripped and fell on a doorknob this morning. What's she wearing?" He asked curious about what could be bothering Karen so much about a seven year olds outfit and in an attempt to get the attention off of him. Foggy and Karen shared a look that went unnoticed by Vladimir but not by Vasilisa. 

  
  
"Neon orange tights with a hot pink dress! It's almost an eyesore!" Karen said simply with a glare at Vladimir.

  
  
Foggy made a noise as if to agree with Karen. "Man, even I know that orange and pink don't usually go together. Come on."

 

Vasilisa narrowed her eyes slightly and scrutinized the blind man's face. She held up her hand so that she was covering up the top half of his face now. " _ He's lying _ ."

  
  
Vladimir glanced at her but took her lead and spoke in their native tongue. " _ What are you talking about? _ "

  
  
The child nodded her head towards Matt. " _ He's lying about the doorknob. _ "

  
  
Vladimir raised an eyebrow. " _ And you know this how? _ "

  
  
" _ Because he's the man I kicked in the face last night, _ " came the easy response.

  
  
Vladimir's mouth opened and closed a few times. Karen and Foggy looked at the two quizzically. The Russian shook his head. " _ No, that was the man in the mask. _ " Karen put her hands on her hips and looked like she was about to interrupt the two.

  
  
Vasilisa tilted her head slightly and gave him a look. " _ And who do you think is in that mask? _ "

  
  
Now it was Vladimir's turn to make a face. " _ Definitely not the blind man. _ " 

  
  
Vasilisa huffed but tugged at the lacy bottom part of the dress in an attempt to make Vladimir believe that she was dropping the subject. He may not have believed her but she was sure of it. Matt was the man in the mask, this Daredevil person. "It's all I have clean," the child said with a shrug to the blonde woman.

  
Karen made an exasperated noise as she made her way towards them, heels clicking audibly. She ran pursed her lips. "Did you brush her hair, Ivan?"

  
  
Vasilisa and Vladimir looked at each other in confusion. "What's wrong with my  hair?" The child asked, tugging at the chin length strands.

  
"Oh honey! It's all in tangles! Come here and let Auntie Karen help you in case your dad obviously can't," she said, sticking her tongue out at the Russian man.

  
  
Vladimir scowled but his scowl was quickly replaced with a warm grin as as Vasilisa giggled and followed after the bubbly woman. Karen carefully brushed through the girls hair until it was smooth and soft, then pursed her lips in thought. "You mean all of your clothes are dirty?" She asked hesitantly.

  
  
Vladimir frowned and crossed his arms over his chest self-consciously. "We don't have much. I..." He trailed off with a sigh. He hadn't thought that there was anything wrong with her clothes. Or lack there of. He didn't have too many either. And he really needed to do laundry but he would look at the ever growing pile of clothes and just put it off for another day. Then another. And another. And now they had no clean clothes and they'd only been in America for less than two weeks.

  
  
The woman nodded as she slung her purse over her shoulder. "Well there's only one thing to do. Come on Vasilisa. We have to go shopping."

  
  
Vasilisa's eyes widened slightly. "Really?" She breathed out.

  
  
Karen nodded. "We'll make a day of it! Er more of a night but whatever. How's that sound?"

  
  
The little girl ran over to Vladimir and held onto his leg. "Papa can I?!" She asked in an excited yell, eyes wide and shinny.

  
  
There wasn't a snow balls chance in hell that Vladimir could tell her no, not that he was going to in the first place. He rolled his eyes but was smiling none the less. "Go on," he pushed her slightly.

  
Karen slipped her coat on and grabbed her purse. "Hey, we should all go. We're going to be closing in about an hour anyway. We can go shopping for some clothes then grab dinner. It'll be fun," the bubbly blonde said with a grin.

  
The child hopped in place. "Can we?" She looked up at Vladimir, eyes wide. He once again couldn't say no to her and he had a moment to send a quick mental thanks to whatever god was out there that none of his men from the mafia could see him caving in so easily to a child.

  
  
"Da. Sounds fun," Vladimir agreed. The child squealed and he couldn't help his next action; he picked her up, held her close, and spun in a quick circle with her. She let out more squeals of laughter before she was placed back on the ground.

 

Matt frowned. Vladimir wasn't at all like how he remembered him. He was actually coming to care for this child, and this child was obviously becoming attached to him as well.

 

Karen tapped Matt on the arm. “Come on Matt. You too Foggy. We'll eat Chinese or something for dinner guys.” She said as she opened the office door and began to usher the three men and child out. Foggy flipped the lights off and locked the door behind them.

 

The shopping was much more boring than the three men had originally thought it would be and were beginning to regret coming along. Vladimir wasn't very willing to admit that he did like to see how Vasilisa would almost light up though as she tried on outfit after outfit. He thought back to what she had said, how she'd lived in the Black Widow program for three years. She obviously hadn't had much time to act like a child, so this was a good experience for her. He didn't exactly know how to give her a good, stable life. He hadn't exactly had that growing up either. But he did know that he wanted to give her better though he didn't really know why.

 

Nearly two hours later and the five being seated at a large booth in a Chinese buffet restaurant. Once they had their food they sat back down. Vasilisa sat between Karen and Foggy while Matt and Vladimir sat across from them. Vladimir raised an eyebrow as Vasilisa began to struggle with the chopsticks. When she was finally able to break them apart, one had snapped in half and the top was still stuck to the other chopstick and she frowned. She held up the sticks with a soft, "I think I broke it."

  
Foggy grinned. "That's adorable." He opened a new pack for her and snapped them apart with ease before handing them over. "Here you go kiddo."

  
"Thank you," the child said. She held a stick in each hand and glared at her plate. "Now what do I do?"

 

“Just uh,” Foggy positioned her fingers on the sticks before he held his own, “and then,” he demonstrated picking up the sushi.

 

Vasilisa nodded solemnly and sat up on her knees then very carefully picked the sushi up. Before she could hold it up to her mouth though it fell from the hold and plopped onto the table. She made a distressed noise, face falling slightly.

 

Vladimir rolled his eyes. “I don't know why you don't just use fork,” he grumbled out as he picked up the sushi between his own chopsticks and held it up to her mouth. She leaned forward and bit halfway into the California roll.

 

After chewing for a few moments the child made a face of utter disgust.

 

The blonde man raised an eyebrow. “Don't like?”

 

She shook her head slowly, then quickly spit the chewed up food into the napkin that Vladimir now held in front of her mouth. “That's gross!” She gasped out before taking a huge gulp of her drink.

 

Matt looked down to hide his grin. Foggy and Karen just laughed softly. Vladimir was just grinning at her as Vasilisa groaned and spit a few more times into the napkin. Vladimir ate the last half of the sushi and promptly made a disgusted look. “That would be the cucumber.”

 

“Well I don't like cucumbers!” Vasilisa practically growled out with a glare at the sushi still on her plate. She pushed her plate to Vladimir. “Can I get new food?”

 

The Russian man frowned and looked down at his own food then sighed. “Da.”

 

Foggy waved him to sit back down. “Dude, let Matt take her up there. He's picky and can make sure she gets something she'll like.”

 

“Besides,” Karen cut in, “he's closer to the edge of the booth.”

 

Foggy slipped out of the booth so that Vasilisa could scramble out. Matt turned to give Foggy an unimpressed look. “I am not picky,” he turned to Vladimir. “Foggy's lying. I'm not picky.”

 

Now it was Foggy's turn to look unimpressed. “Don't lie. Go get the seven year old food you food snob.”

 

Matt groaned at Foggy's picking but stood up and let Vasilisa 'lead' him to where the food was.

 

An hour later and Vladimir, Matt, and Vasilisa took the same cab to get back to their apartment, the child sitting between the two men.

  
She kept stealing glances at Matt then would occasionally look over at Vladimir. The Russian was looking out the window, refusing to look at the blind man. Unknown to Vasilisa he was thinking back to what she had said, that Matt was Daredevil, the man in the mask.

  
All too soon the trio were heading up to their separate apartments. Vladimir watched as Matt walked into his own apartment and waited a moment more before unlocking his apartment. He stretched and yawned. "Get changed into sleep clothes Vasya," he said between yawns. "The blonde woman was right, your hair is messy and needs to be brushed again before bed."

  
Vasilisa started at the nickname that slipped easily from Vladimir but quickly came back to herself. She grabbed her clothes and went to the bathroom to change. When she came back to the living room the shopping bags were sitting atop the island's counter top and Vladimir was sitting on the floor in his own pajamas.

  
He gestured to the spot in front of him and so she sat. He began to almost timidly brush her short hair. Vasilisa turned so she could face him but was quickly nudged in the back to face forward. She did for a few moments.

  
Then the little girl turned her head so that she could stare up at the man brushing her hair. He gave a huff but didn't make her turn to face the front. "Where's your brother? You talk about him a lot, so he's obviously important to you," she asked curiously. Her curiosity turned to worry quickly though as Vladimir paled slightly and stiffened.

  
He quickly shook himself out of his stupor and continued to brush her short hair. "He died." Came the simple response.

  
Matt frowned as he listened to the two. Vladimir's pulse had quickened when Vasilisa asked about Anatoly. He had nearly choked on his response and if the child noticed this she didn't make a remark about it.

  
Vladimir ran the brush through her short hair once more. "Now, what story you want to hear first?"

  
Vasilisa turned to stare straight ahead. "Uhm... Vasilisa the Wise?"

  
Vladimir nodded. "I don't tell it as good as An- my brother do- did. But..." He took a breath. "Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom there was a tsar who wanted his three sons to marry..."

  
Both Matt and Vasilisa became completely enraptured by the story. Before the Russian was even finished though Vasilisa was asleep, leaning back against Vladimir's chest. The blonde just continued telling the story in a soft tone. Matt was sitting with his back to his door so that he could listen to the soft accented words more clearly.

  
"Prince Ivan and Vasilisa returned home and lived happily together for the rest of their lives," Vladimir finished softly.  
  
There was the sound of movement, the floor creaking so softly no one but Matt could have possibly heard it. Then there was warm Russian mumbles. A sigh.  
  
Matt opened his eyes, though he still only saw darkness, and stood up from the floor. He frowned as he heard his own heart racing slightly. His body temperature raised. He paled but shook his head as he made his way to his bedroom. _'It'll go away. There's not a chance in hell that I'm going to like him,'_ the blind man thought to himself even as he fell asleep focusing on the two Russian's heartbeats across the hall. Faint yet steady. Comforting.

 

~oOo~

 

Back in Iowa Clint was watching as the Maximoff twins cooked in his kitchen. The twenty-seven girls were crowding around the twins, one child sticking close to Clint. Their attention was jumping from the twins to Clint to Lucky to Kate back to Clint and back to Lucky before starting the cycle over again.

 

He was glad to have the help, though he wasn't very keen on admitting it. He wasn't exactly the best at taking care of himself, let alone twenty-seven children. He watched with a warm smile as one of the girls, Irena was the brunette's name, spoke to Pietro in Russian.

 

The young man shook his head and spoke back in soft tones as he tried to explain to her that Sokovian, the language that he was speaking, was just a different dialect of Russian, which was what she was speaking. She nodded along and spoke slower in Russian. This, or whatever she said, made the twins laugh.

 

Clint grinned. He could get used to this. A house full of happy people. And a happy dog. The deaf man glanced over at Kate who was demonstrating how to properly hold her own bow, which was a little too big for the children but they would hold it up correctly none the less.

 

Yep, he could get used to this.

 

~oOo~

 

Matt didn't know what had possessed him to offer that he pick Vasilisa up from her practice. Maybe it was the fact that he still felt almost warm from listening to Vladimir tell the child the fairytale last night. But whatever the reason he now had a seven year old staring up at him with a blank expression, hands on her hips.

  
He didn't move, just waited for her to make the first move. This seemed to make her happy as she was now holding his hand and letting him lead the way.

  
"My papa lets me get icecream after practice," Vasilisa stated as she tugged gently on Matt's hand.

  
The blind man raised an eyebrow at the lie. "No he doesn't. And you shouldn't lie."

  
Now it was Vasilisa's turn to raise an eyebrow, head tilted slightly. "And how would you know if I was lying?"

  
"Lucky guess," Matt replied with a small smirk.

  
Vasilisa crossed her arms. "But you don't know for sure, so unless you have super powers telling you otherwise," Matt frowned, "then you don't know. My papa lets me get icecream," the child snipped back smugly.

  
The blind man frowned but didn't deny her the icecream cone. "I don't see how you can eat icecream in the snow," Matt grumbled as the two walked to the firm.

  
"I'm Russian," she said as though that explained everything.

  
Matt just huffed out a laugh.

  
"I'm sorry I kicked you in the face," Vasilisa said not even taking a break from licking the chocolate icecream.

  
Matt made a vague waving motion. "Not a big deal. Happens all the ti-" he cut himself off and stood stock still.

  
Vasilisa looked up at him.

  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Matt said, attempting to retract his statement.

  
The child smirked. "I know that you're Daredevil. Papa didn't believe me. He said the blind man can't be a hero. But I know he's wrong. Isn't he?"

  
Matt frowned but didn't deny it. What was the point? "How'd you know?"

  
She pointed at his face. "I kicked the man, you, in the face there. And I can tell from your jaw and cheek bones too. If you cover up the top half of your face, you look just like uh well you but as Daredevil."

  
Matt sighed and sent a quick thanks as no one else stayed near them for very long. Not that they would have really heard them unless they were listening closely because they were talking softly.

  
"So you're a super hero?" Vasilisa asked as she licked the chocolate from her fingers.

  
Matt shrugged. "Guess so. Most people seem to think I am. Why?"

  
A grin broke out across her face. "That's so cool. And you have the suit and everything! It's so cool! I know a real life super hero and can't tell anyone!" She giggled out. If she told Hannah, Hannah would have freaked out. In her mind Daredevil was almost as cool as Captain America. 

  
Matt's eyes widened slightly before he laughed quietly too. "So uh don't tell Vla- Ivan then. Okay?"

  
She nodded. "So how'd you know Papa?"

  
Matt lost his grin quickly as he remembered Vladimir before. Remembered the night the Russian had died but not really. Twice it would seem. "He uh... Ask him when you're older kiddo."

  
Vasilisa groaned but otherwise didn't argue. "Fine." Silence. "I have a recital next Friday. Don't tell Papa, but I'm trying out for a solo part. I want to surprise him."  
  
Matt raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Promise."

  
"Good."

  
The rest of the walk was silent with Vasilisa licking at her icecream and kicking the snow just because she could. And when they walked into the office Vladimir looked up with a grin until he saw the chocolate icecream cone.

  
  
He gestured to the icecream. "The fuck Murdock?!"

  
Matt took a step back, eyes widening slightly. "Excuse me?"

  
"She's not going to be able to eat dinner now! I'm trying to feed her healthy and you go get her more junk!" Vladimir yelled exasperatedly.

  
Karen bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing as Vasilisa walked over to her with her now melting icecream cone. The two watched as Vladimir berated the lawyer with his hands on his hips and Matt just stand there in confusion. Foggy leaned towards Karen and whispered, "Who do you think will win this?"

  
"I think Papa," Vasilisa whispered back, still licking at the icecream. Karen nodded her agreement and the three watched as Matt Murdock, vigilante hero by night, the man without fear, Daredevil, was berated like a child by Vladimir Ranskahov, ex-boss of the Russian mob.

  
Matt pointed to the smirking child. "She told me to!"

  
"Nuh uh! Did not!" Came the snippy response.

  
Vladimir glanced between the two before poking Matt in the chest. "I don't care! Don't do it again!"

  
Matt's mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to search for a response. He couldn't think of anything. The blind man turned his head to Foggy, who was laughing uncontrollably by now with Karen snickering to herself, and gave the man a half-hearted glare.

 

Later that night Vasilisa was in the smaller empty bedroom practicing ballet steps. She had one more day until tryouts. The moves needed to be perfect. She narrowed her eyes in concentration. _'Just like a mission,'_ she thought as she re-started in first position. _'Do it correctly. Don't mess up.'_ She twirled, arms in the correct position, feet in the correct position. _'It's for the glory of the-'_ she shook her head to clear away the thoughts and quickly replaced the thoughts with the music in her mind. She hummed the tune to herself softly, quietly to make sure that Vladimir wouldn't hear from the kitchen.

 

~oOo~

 

The man in the suit had a goal. He wanted a team of assassins with more special abilities. Twenty-eight super powered Natasha Romanoffs. Many had thought him crazy for aspiring for something that seemed so impossible. But he knew it was possible. American's had made Captain America, so why couldn't he do the same?

 

He was shaken from his thoughts as a knock resounded on his office door before another man came in. “Yes?”

 

“We've found twenty-seven of the missing girls.”

 

He raised an eyebrow. “Twenty-seven?”

 

A nod. “One seems to have escaped from the Black Widows,” another raised eyebrow. “and they are trying to locate her. So far no such luck. It would also appear that the Winter Soldier is helping them.”

 

The first man pursed his lips.

 

“What are your orders? Do you want us to bring in the girls?”

 

He shook his head. “No. We still don't have the formula for the mutant abilities just yet. There's no need to have the Avengers knocking down our base and stealing the girls away before we could even begin.”

 

~oOo~

 

Vasilisa didn't often get nervous. Nervousness and anxiety had been beaten from her at a very young age, younger than seven that was for sure. But she could without a doubt say that she was nervous before and during the try out dance. Her heart had raced, she had broke out into a slight sweat, and she was almost shaking. Almost but not quite. And she remained slightly nervous until Miss Caron told the students who had gotten which part.

 

Vasilisa got the part of the Firebird. Her dance would be the last one of the night. Fitting, considering it was called 'Finale'.

 

She grinned as she ran over to Vladimir when it was time to leave and he raised an eyebrow as he lifted her up. “What has you in good mood?” He asked as he put her back down and they began to walk to Nelson and Murdock.

 

Vasilisa kicked the snow and hummed before giggling. “I can't be happy? I am in a good mood because I'm happy!” She spun in the snow and picked some up before beginning to pack it into a ball shape.

 

Vladimir shook his head but didn't hide his own grin. Good moods, and happy laughs from children, were contagious after all. He stopped short as the cold snow made contact with his face.

 

The child burst into laughter and began to make another snow ball.

 

“Did you seriously just throw snow at my face?” Vladimir asked in a slightly dazed tone.

 

His answer was a giggle and another snow ball smacking him right in the face. He wiped the snow from his now pink face. “Oh that's it. You'd better run now,” was all he said before leaning down and scooping up a handful of snow.

 

Vasilisa gave a loud laugh. “I'm quicker!” She yelled out before dashing down the sidewalk and running up to the door of the building. She nearly slid on the ice but managed to catch herself.

 

She yelped as snow hit her in the side. “But I have more experience on ice!” Vladimir yelled back as he ran after her with a laugh.

 

Vasilisa giggled and began to scoop up snow from the stairs. “But I'm better!” She yelled back as she threw the snowball at Vladimir. This one he managed to dodge. She picked up another handful of snow before running into the building and dashing up the stairs.

 

Vladimir mimicked her and the two began to pack the snow into tight ball shapes as they ran up the stairs, Vladimir behind Vasilisa. As she threw open the office door Vladimir yelled, “Vasya duck!” And she dropped to the floor, snowball still in hand, without even thinking twice.

 

His snowball went soaring and hit Foggy right in the chest with a splat. Vladimir whooped loudly. “ _Ten points!_ ” He laughed out in Russian. Vasilisa laughed louder as she stood up and looked at the blonde man in front of her.

 

Foggy made a disgusted noise before shivering. “Man what the fuck?!”

 

“Franklin!”

 

“Oh come on! He just threw snow into the office! And more importantly on me!” Foggy defended himself. Karen rolled her eyes. Foggy glanced at Vasilisa and grinned. “Hey kid, can I have that?”

 

She giggled but handed the snowball over. Vladimir frowned. “ _Traitor_!” He ran over and picked up the child, holding her close. “You wouldn't hit child, would you?!”

 

Foggy made a face at him. “Now that's just low. Using your kid as a human shield.”

 

The Russians looked at each other and grinned.

 

The blonde man threw the snowball at the same moment that Matt came out of his office. “What on earth is-” The blind man heard the snowball soaring through the air. Heard as it was melting and each drop of water dropped to the floor. Heard as Vladimir dodged out of the way. And couldn't move lest he accidentally prove to Vladimir that Vasilisa had been correct, that he was Daredevil. So he did the only thing he could. He stood still and let the snowball smack him in the face.

 

Karen gasped and covered her mouth to hide her grin. Vasilisa's eyes widened and she pointed and laughed even louder. Foggy's mouth dropped open as he stared at his now soaked in the face best friend. Vladimir joined in laughing after a moment's pause. This caused for Karen to be unable to hold it in any longer and burst out laughing loudly.

 

“Matt I-” Foggy broke off into laughter as well now.

 

Matt shook his head. “No it's fine. I'll get you back later. My question is why?”

 

The brunette child squirmed her way out of Vladimir's arms and ran over to Matt. She tugged on his leg to get his attention and he dropped down to her height so that she could whisper in his ear. “I got it! I got the part of the Firebird!”

 

Matt grinned. “That's great!” He whispered back. Vladimir watched the two in confusion but didn't question.

 

~oOo~

 

Saturday morning rolled around and Vladimir awake to the unnatural feeling of being watched. Through half closed eyes he glanced around and saw nothing. Slowly he rolled over. And nearly had a heart attack.

 

He screamed and jumped up, hand over his now racing heart. Vasilisa stared up at him from where she sat beside his pillow and had been just an inch or so away from his face. “ _Why the fuck are you awake? What the fuck?!_ ”

 

Vasilisa blinked almost owlishly. “I'm bored.”

 

Vladimir groaned and slowly sat back down, rubbing his face. “Why can't you be more normal,” he groaned out.

 

She tilted her head and stared at him. “What do normal children do?”

 

“Sleep,” Vladimir answered dryly. “They sleep until noon.”

 

Vasilisa scrunched up her nose. “That doesn't sound like fun. I'm bored.”

 

The blond stood up and went to the kitchen where he had begun to store their food. He had gone to the store and bought them apples in an attempt to eat healthier considering Vasilisa was a growing child after all. But said child had never gotten to eat junk food in her life and was having the hardest time giving it up. The child did have a fondness for green apples though. Which made reminded Vladimir of his brother once more. The child was much like Anatoly in ways. Insightful. Rational. And Vladimir would be lying if he said these weren't some of the reason on why he had wanted to keep Vasilisa.

 

Vladimir shook the thoughts away and looked into the empty fridge. “I wish we had eggs,” he sighed out.

 

“We should see if Matt has some!” Vasilisa shouted, jumping up.

 

Vladimir frowned. “I don't think he'd like that.”

 

“You won't know if we don't ask!” Vasilisa retorted with a tug on Vladimir's hand. Vladimir sighed but let himself get pulled out of the apartment and to Matt's door.

 

Matt meanwhile was hurriedly pulling a hoodie over his head to hide the bruises on his torso from the previous nights vigilante activities. The Russians had woken him up, which wasn't too hard to do. He could hear the two steady heartbeats. One a bit faster than the other; Vladimir was slightly nervous. That was new.

 

“You have to knock or he won't answer the door, Papa,” Vasilisa stated.

 

Matt could imagine the Russian scowling and he waited for the knock.

 

“Do you know how to knock?”

 

A huff. “Of course I do!”

 

“Well you gotta knock!”

 

Silence. Then a quick knocking on the door in a rhythm that he remembered Vasilisa humming before leaving to do hero work. Matt waited a few seconds before opening the door. He stared at where he imagined Vladimir's head to be with a raised eyebrow. “Yes?”

 

Vladimir stared at Matt in slight surprise. He hadn't seen the blind man without his glasses before and the man looked completely different. _'He looks like puppy,'_ Vladimir thought to himself.

 

Vasilisa glanced between the two and saw that neither one wanted to say anything first. “Can we eat breakfast with you?” She asked loudly.

 

Matt tilted his head as he heard Vladimir's heart race. “Uh sure?” He moved out of the way so that the two could come in. Slowly Vladimir led the way, only moving so that Vasilisa could move from behind him once he was sure that it was safe. Vasilisa took in the surroundings.

 

Blank walls. Couch. No tv. Big windows. Kind of empty really.

 

She liked it.

 

Matt leaned against the counter as the two Russians gazed at his apartment. “So what are we having for this spontaneous breakfast?” He smirked slightly as Vladimir's body temperature increased slightly in what he imagined to be embarrassment.

 

“Uh eggs?” His response came out more as a question than an answer and he frowned at himself. “Da, eggs.” Vladimir crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the blind man. The more he watched Matt the more he came to believe Vasilisa's claim that he was Daredevil and if that were the case then Matt had saved his life in the tunnels. Twice.

 

Matt gestured to the kitchen. “Be my guest then Comrade.”

 

Vladimir scowled. “Russia isn't communist anymore, mudak.” But he walked over to the fridge and pulled out the eggs. “Where you keep your pans?”

 

Matt pointed vaguely. Vladimir flipped him off. Matt looked away so he wouldn't laugh. Vasilisa coughed to hide her laugh.

 

“I know that Russia's not communist anymore. Foggy just calls you comrade a lot. It's sort of stuck,” Matt explained as Vladimir, quite loudly, opened and closed every cabinet in search of the pans. Vladimir just made a noise and pulled out the pan.

 

Vasilisa ran and scrambled onto one of the chairs at the table. It didn't take long and then Matt was sitting next to her. Vladimir began to whistle, a tune that Matt instantly remembered as the song that Vladimir had been singing the night that he had died. Well, not died.

 

Vladimir watched as the blind man tensed slightly, face a few shades paler. Vladimir turned back to the eggs. He scooped the finished scrambled eggs onto three plates then began to re-open cabinets until he found Matt's spices. He grinned as he found the cinnamon and poured a generous amount onto his eggs. He put a plate in front of Vasilisa and Matt before turning to grab his own and three forks.

 

Matt sniffed the air slightly. “Is... is that cinnamon? On eggs?” He took the fork from Vladimir.

 

“Da.”

 

Matt made a face. “Why? That cannot be good.”

 

Now Vladimir made a face. “Foggy was right. You are food snob.”

 

Matt scowled at him and took a bite of his own eggs. _'I'm eating eggs with a criminal. In my apartment. There is a criminal sitting right across from me eating eggs,'_ Matt thought with a huffy laugh.

 

Vasilisa just looked at Vladimir who shrugged back and ate his own eggs. He watched Vasilisa as she narrowed her eyes at his plate. “Want bite?”

 

She jerked her head to stare up at him but nodded slowly. He extended his fork to her and she carefully took the bite of food and promptly spit it back out onto the table. “Ew! Nyet!”

 

Vladimir frowned slightly. _“Just like Tolya,”_ he sighed out in Russian with a small smile. His brother didn't like the odd mix either. Vasilisa scrunched up her nose and took a bite of her own eggs.

 

The blind man listened as Vladimir's heart sped up then slowly went back to normal. “Are they that bad?”

 

“Da!”

 

“Nyet,” Vladimir said simply with a scowl at the child. He rolled his eyes at her as she stuck her tongue out at him. “Try it for yourself,” Vladimir stated simply, stabbing at the eggs and holding the fork out at the same that Matt reached his fork over to the Russian's plate. Their forks clashed and the eggs joined the bite that Vasilisa had spit out.

 

The blond stared with a blank expression at the table. _“I just tried to feed a grown ass man,”_ he mumbled. Vasilisa burst out laughing.

 

Matt turned his head to 'look' at the two but shook his head. “So what are you two doing today?” _'Going to attempt to mug a cop today?'_

 

Vladimir shrugged. “I shrug. I don't know. Vasya?”

 

The child started but quickly thought about the place that her friends liked to go to. “The place with the slide things?”

 

“Chto?”

 

Matt raised an eyebrow. “You mean the park?”

 

“Da!” Vasilisa yelled with a grin at the blind man. “You should come with us! We can get icecream again! I like icecream!”

 

Matt turned to face Vladimir. The Russian just mumbled out a quiet, “Da.”

 

_'I can keep a better watch over him if I'm with him,'_   Matt thought. Instead he grinned and said, “Sure. I'd love to Vasilisa.”

 

Vladimir sighed. “I have to put pants on.”

 

Matt frowned and glared at the Russian. “Are you not wearing pants?”

 

The blonde frowned and turned to Vasilisa. She shook her head and shoved the last of her eggs into her mouth. The Russian took this as his cue to get up. “Uhh... Come on Vasya! Time to get dressed!”

 

Matt scowled as he heard the chairs scrape across the floor and the door slam shut behind the Russians. “Fucking come into my house,” he stood up and began to clear away the plates, “eat my food, don't even bother cleaning up your mess,” he scraped the plates off, “and all without even wearing pants!”

 

An hour later and the trio were at the park. Vasilisa watched the other children play and didn't join in for nearly an hour until Vladimir had groaned and taken her to the swings where he began to push her lightly. Matt couldn't help the grin that spread its way across his face as she squealed in delight, yelling, “Papa higher! Higher! Again!”

 

Then she wanted to try out the slides. Many of the other families were leaving as it was getting close to lunch time and they were cold. “Papa please!” Vasilisa had pleaded with a laugh as she tugged on his hand.

 

“Nyet, I really don't want to.” Vladimir had replied. But he ended up going with her, grumbling and complaining the whole time. Until they were sliding down the slides and Vasilisa was laughing and yelling, “Again! Again! Again!”

 

And they went down the slides again. And again. And again. Finally Vladimir groaned and nudged the child towards Matt. “Take him with you. He hasn't been down slides yet.”

 

Matt laughed. “Wait wha- woah!” Vasilisa had a stronger grip than he thought. After going down the slide a few dozen or so more times Vladimir suggested they get icecream. So the trio went to walk to the closest place that sold icecream, Vasilisa's hand in Vladimir's with her between the two. As they walked she hummed and kicked at the snow.

 

Without even thinking about it she slid her free hand into Matt's. The blind man nearly dropped his cane in surprise. Vladimir glanced over at him and flushed slightly. They ordered their icecream, Vladimir a strawberry cone, Matt chocolate, and Vasilisa a vanillla, and they ate at a small round table.

 

“Vasya, what's your icecream smell like?” Vladimir asked disinterestedly.

 

Vasilisa and Matt looked at him with confusion on their faces. But the child moved the icecream closer to her face to smell it. And promptly froze as Vladimir pushed it onto her nose with a loud laugh. Matt's mouth dropped open in surprise. Vasilisa's eyes were wide as she stared at Vladimir with the look of utter betrayal. “Papa why,” was all she mumbled out.

 

This just caused for Matt and Vladimir to laugh harder. The blind man picked up a napkin and began to wipe the icecream off of the sighing child's face. “Ivan why would you do that?!”

 

“I thought it be funny,” Vladimir choked out around his laughter.

 

Vasilisa and Matt frowned at him disapprovingly. “It wasn't,” the child stated. “I wanna go back to the park. I didn't get to play on the monkey bars.”

 

Vladimir nodded his agreement and the trio began to eat their icecream again. Vasilisa rolled her eyes at the still chuckling Vladimir and leaned closer to Matt. “Matt is my new favorite. He doesn't betray my trust with icecream.” The Russian man choked on his icecream as he laughed.

 

When they finished they were walking back to the park, Matt shivering more than the Russians. Vladimir and Matt stood together as Vasilisa ran to play on the jungle gym again. “So were you seriously not wearing pants earlier?” Matt asked in an attempt to break the silence.

 

Vladimir laughed again, a sound that Matt was coming to enjoy. “I wasn't naked if that's what you mean.”

 

Matt flushed slightly though Vladimir couldn't tell because they were all pink faced from the cold. “Good. You daughter doesn't need to see that. I think no one does.” Matt smirked as Vladimir huffed.

 

“Is pleasure to see me naked! I am gorgeous.” Matt laughed at Vladimir's indignant tone.

 

Vasilisa turned to stare at the two and smirked to herself. She giggled as the two continued their banter. Vladimir was standing closer to Matt now.

 

Matt stood still, not a tense still but not relaxed either, as he felt the heat radiating from Vladimir's palm before it was on his cheek. Matt couldn't help how he leaned in to the touch slightly. This seemed to encourage the Russian to do the same with his other hand so that he now was lightly caressing the blind mans face.

  
Matt could hear the Russian's heart racing. Increased body temperature. Nervous. Slightly aroused. Could feel the mans breath ghost across his face as he began to lean forward.

  
He leaned forward slightly to meet the taller Russian halfway as if in a daze.

  
The kiss was quick. Soft. Almost but not quite sweet. A lot different than Matt had expected coming from Vladimir if he were to be honest. A good different though.

  
Vladimir tasted like the strawberry icecream he had just eaten. His lips were cold and Matt couldn't tell if it was from the chilled air or the aforementioned icecream. Both had slightly chapped lips and the kiss was over much sooner than Matt expected.

  
To his surprise it was Vladimir who ended the kiss and pulled away completely, shaking his head at himself, with mutters under his breath of, "Shouldn't have-," and then Russian.

  
The blind man coughed softly to clear his suddenly dry throat. "So uhm. Vasilisa. We should probably take her ah back to your apartment or something. Get her out of the cold."

  
He felt the air change slightly as Vladimir nodded in agreement hurriedly. "Da. Vasy-ah!" The Russian jumped, which caused for Matt to jump slightly. "How you do that?!" Vladimir yelped with a scowl at the little girl who stood beside him.

  
Vasilisa looked between the two. "You two were kissing," she stated with a smirk.

  
Matt flushed. He'd been so focused on Vladimir that he hadn't even noticed the child coming up to them.

  
Vladimir shook his head with a blush. "Were not!"

  
"Were so," the child sang back, sticking her tongue out.

  
Vladimir huffed. "Mature." After a moments hesitation he stuck his tongue out at the child with a noise.

  
Matt scoffed. "So mature Ivan."

  
The Russians glanced at each. The blonde winked then turned to the blind man and made a face, eyes crossed and tongue out. Vasilisa burst into giggles and mimicked the face at Matt.

  
"I don't even have to be able to see to know that what you're doing is rude," Matt said dryly though he was grinning at his two Russians. He frowned slightly at the thought. Since when were they his?

  
~oOo~

  
The rest of the week went by quickly. Matt and Vladimir were careful to keep their distance from each other and if they were around each other for too long they'd begin to blush slightly before muttering an excuse and leaving the room.

  
Vladimir once went and sat on the stairs outside of the building for nearly an hour before leaving to pick Vasilisa up from ballet.

  
Karen, Foggy, and Vasilisa of course could tell the two were tense and the two blondes were making bets on when they would go out or if they'd sleep together first. When Vasilisa had asked what that meant Foggy had flushed, stuttered an excuse, then yelled for Matt before leaving to get lunch. For two hours.

  
Karen had flushed, then paled as she thought about what Vladimir would say if he had heard. "It's uh. Something that uhm grownups do. Sometimes. You know?"

  
Vasilisa had tilted her head in confusion. "No?"

  
"Well uhm it's uh ask your dad when you're older? I have to uhm go sharpen these pencils," Karen said, grabbing a black cup full of pens.

  
Vasilisa watched her unimpressed. "Those are pens."

  
The child practiced the ballet steps every night in what would have been her bedroom. She would tell Matt how practice was in hushed whispers and the blind man and Karen took her to get a better leotard, tights, and skirt for the ballet recital. Vasilisa was still hell bent on surprising Vladimir. Matt thought it was adorable but refused to say so. And every night Vladimir would tell her a new story. And so every night Matt sat with his back to his door and listened to the Russian accented voice weave magical tales of a house on chicken legs or a girl made of snow or of a story with a scarlet flower. Every night it was something new.

  
And the night of the recital the four adults left at the same time from the law firm. They arrived at the school's auditorium and Vasilisa ran to the back to get ready. Before she could even begin to dress she saw all the girls with their mothers, the moms doing their daughter's hair and a little bit of makeup.

  
The brunette frowned slightly and watched her friends get ready before she turned to head back to where Matt, Vladimir, Karen, and Foggy were sitting. Vasilisa timidly asked Karen to help her with her hair as she came up to them, her little dance bag still slung over her shoulder. Karen melted a bit and she grinned as she held onto Vasilisa's hand and allowed the child to show her where to go.

  
The brunette plopped herself next to Hannah and looked back at Karen. The blonde woman dug through the dance bag and began to pull everything out until she managed to grasp onto the hairbrush. Slowly Karen began to run the brush through Vasilisa's hair. Vasilisa meanwhile was trying to get her racing heart to calm down. Hannah provided the perfect distraction.

 

“Can you guys believe that the Avengers are here?!” The child whisper yelled.

 

Karen raised an eyebrow. “Really?” She dusted light pink blush across Vasilisa's cheeks, tickling the childs nose with the brush afterwards. Vasilisa giggled.

 

Everyone turned to stare at Karen. “Mina's been talking about it since last week. Apparently the Avengers are coming to donate money for the ballet studio,” Mina's mom said with a warm grin at her daughter.

 

Hannah squealed. “I can't wait! I hope we get to meet them! I mean can you believe it, Vasilisa! We could meet real super heroes!” She shook the brunette slightly.

 

Vasilisa giggled but didn't say anything. She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying how she already knew a super hero; Daredevil.

 

“Alright girls,” Miss Caron said as she clapped her hands to get their attention. “Time to get to your places! Parents if you would please exit the and return to your seats. We will be starting with five minutes and thank you so much for coming!” She turned to the girls. “Alright now, remember, the Avengers are out there. Your parents are excited. This is a big moment. You've practiced hard and you're all going to do splendid! Most importantly, have fun! Don't be nervous. Alright?”

 

She received nods from the children.

 

“Fantastic! Everybody in their positions now!” She said and some of the children began to run to the stage, the rest staying backstage and waiting for the cues.

 

Vladimir watched as the curtains began to rise and the lights dimmed anxiously. He frowned when he couldn't see Vasilisa. “Where's Vasya?” he whispered softly.

 

“She's wearing red and orange though so it shouldn't be too difficult to find her,” Karen whispered back with a shrug.

 

Vladimir and Foggy stared at her in confusion. “But this is Swan Lake?” Karen just shrugged again.

 

Matt smirked slightly. “Just watch and wait. Patience is a virtue Ivan.”

 

The Russian scowled but did as was suggested. The dances seemed to drag on forever and he found himself becoming even more anxious when Vasilisa didn't show up on stage. Matt resisted the urge to lean too much closer to Vladimir as he whispered for the Russian to quit shaking so much and ' _just be patient she'll show up soon_.' Vladimir frowned but didn't try to move away from the blind man.

 

Finally the curtains opened once more and Vasilisa stood in the center of the stage. She began to perform the dance moves and Matt didn't need to be able to see to know that Vladimir never took his eyes off of the little girl. When the song was over and Vasilisa was taking a quick bow Vladimir was the loudest clapper in the audience. He turned to Matt and shook him slightly. “You knew that she was last didn't you?”

 

Matt just smirked, glasses hiding his eyes.

 

The Russian nudged him. “Mudak!” He said almost teasingly, “She was the firebird! And she danced perfectly!” Vladimir continued proudly. Matt grinned back at him.

 

Karen and Foggy were nudging each other and hiding their grins as they watched the two. It was the most interaction they'd had all week.

 

They had to wait for everyone to clap for the children. Then wait as the children rushed to get pictures with the Avengers.

 

And then finally Vasilisa ran up to them and when she did Vladimir picked her up and twirled her. “You were perfect! You didn't tell me that you were dancing to the finale!”

 

Vasilisa grinned down at him from how high he was holding her. “It was a surprise! Only Matt knew!”

 

Vladimir pretended to be offended but grinned. “I think that perfect performance deserves icecream!”

 

Foggy made a face. “You're joking right? It's snowing again!”

 

Matt rolled his eyes and nudged Foggy. “They're Russian. They like the cold apparently.”

 

Vasilisa squirmed her way out of Vladimir's hold and ran over to Karen. “Can we do it now?” The child whispered.

 

The blonde woman turned to Foggy then glanced at Vladimir and Matt. Matt was listening to the whispered conversation in confusion, Vladimir just watching them confusedly. Karen smirked and nodded. The brunette ran over to Vladimir and tugged on his hand while Karen went over to Matt.

 

“Matt we do this because we care,” Foggy said simply as Matt turned to face him.

 

“Da papa! Because we care! You and Matt need to go out on a date!” Vasilisa said simply, nodding her head. Vladimir's heart stuttered then began to race. Matt's did as well.

 

“What? Why would we- what?” Matt choked out ever so eloquently.

 

Foggy sighed. “Look man, you two are driving the rest of us crazy in the office. So go out on a date and just fix whatever so that the rest of us can live in peace. Your se-ahhh tension,” he cut himself off at Karen's pointed look to Vasilisa, “ is thick enough to cut with a knife.”

 

“Foggy and I can babysit,” Karen supplied with a grin. Vladimir stared at her then at the little girl and shuddered. He was obviously not too comfortable with the thought. Karen noticed. "We can!"

 

Vasilisa nodded solemnly. “You two need to go out to eat food and then do the adult thing with the sleeping thing that Foggy and Karen won't tell me about.”

 

Vladimir flushed. “What the fuck have you been telling my daughter?!” He nearly yelled hysterically.

 

Karen pointed to Foggy. “All him.” Foggy glared at the woman. “That aside though! You tw-” She was cut off as Matt groaned and covered his face.

 

“If we agree will you three please stop! This is a train wreck of a speech!” The blind man groaned out, face a light red.

 

Foggy nodded. “I can live with that.” Karen and Vasilisa agreed.

 

The child grabbed onto Vladimir's and Matt's hand as they all crossed the street. She giggled as they flushed and she turned back to wink at Foggy and Karen who were high fiving each other.

 

~oOo~

 

“Sir we found the last girl.”

 

The man glanced up. “Oh? Where is she?”

 

The woman held out a touch pad that showed a picture of the child on stage with other children. “Hell's Kitchen, New York. Apparently she does ballet,” he interrupted her with a scoff. “and the Avengers showed up to the performance to donate money. Stark took the pictures.”

 

“Well now that we know where all of the children are we can take them back. We now have the serums ready so we can begin experimentation back up. If Stark took the pictures then there's a chance he sent them to Romanoff. Get the girl before she does.”

 

~oOo~

 

Natasha rolled her eyes as her phone gave a bu in her pocket. She unlocked it and read the text. _'Bet you and Clint wish you were here now! We just watched the most adorable ballet!'_ There pictures still coming in. She zoomed in on the last six and studied the images before turning to face her two companions.

 

“Found her.” Was all she said before handing the phone over to Yelena.

 

Yelena studied the image before handing the phone back. “We need to hurry.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

Vasilisa lied still as she felt someone glaring at her and for a moment she forgot where she was. Until she was pinning Vladimir to the floor and choking him. He smacked at her arm and she hastily climbed off with a quiet, “Izvinite,” and a yawn. She blinked at him and waited.

 

The blonde rubbed at his throat and glared. “ _You set me up on a date with the devil!_ ”

 

“ _I thought you said he wasn't Daredevil?_ ” The child replied back quickly and with a smirk.

 

Vladimir scowled at her. “ _I thought he wasn't but I now have reason to believe that he is._ ” He glared as she just rolled her eyes. He sighed. “ _This is going to be a disaster._ ”

 

“ _Don't you think you're being dramatic?_ ” Was all she mumbled out before laying back down.

 

~oOo~

 

The little girl slowly and ever so quietly made her way down the stairs. She tried not to make too much noise as she sniffled every so often. She was so enveloped in being quiet and not waking anyone that she didn't notice Clint sitting at the kitchen table until he had stood up and turned on the light.

 

The brunette quickly took up a fighting stance, face pale, until she noticed that it was just Clint. “Hey. Everything okay?”

 

She slowly nodded but then quickly shook her head. He stood up and went over to her and she quickly jumped into his open arms to bury her face into his shoulder. He felt her move slightly as she spoke and frowned. “Hey, I can't hear you honey. Don't have my aids in. Gotta turn to me so I can read your lips. Remember?” She just held on tighter.

 

A moment passed and he began to slowly rock her and hum a tune, which after humming about half of it he remembered it was from Tarzan. Once he felt her breathing even out after the third time of humming the song he slowly began to climb the stairs to put her back to bed. He tucked her in and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and slowly left the room and went back to the kitchen.

 

The blonde went straight to the coffee machine to make his coffee but glanced behind him when the lights flicked on, off, on, off, on. He gave a grin and wave to the eldest Maximoff twin.

 

“You are surprisingly good with children,” the younger man said slowly so that the deaf man could read his lips.

 

Clint shrugged. “I guess. Why are you up, kid?”

 

Pietro wrinkled his nose at the pet name but didn't comment on it. “Sometimes I sleep and remember things I'd rather forget.”

 

Clint nodded in understanding. “I'm making coffee. If you want any?”

 

~oOo~

 

The woman held up a vial. “The idea is that the DNA samples that we have, we've fused with the super serum, and once injected into the child's bone marrow, the new serum will bond to the blood cells they already have and begin to re-generate itself. Now again this is all theory. It would need to be injected into the vertebrae, sternum, skull, femur, and humerus; where blood cells typically form.”

 

The team of scientists that she had working for her nodded along and wrote down notes as she spoke and pointed at diagrams.

 

“What if it doesn't work and the child dies?” A man in his mid thirties asked worriedly. She thought he was worried because of how much time and effort had been put into this project, but really he felt sick. He had three children, the youngest a year older than the girls they would be experimenting on. It was all too easy to imagine it was his own child.

 

The woman grinned back patronizingly. “Well that's why we're only testing on four of the girls at a time. There will still be twenty-four left if the first four die.”

 

~oOo~

 

Vladimir and Matt stared at each other. Well, Vladimir did the staring. Vasilisa glanced between the two for a moment then sighed and grabbed one of their hands and tugged them along. "You two make dating awkward," she said simply.

 

The ride in the cab was awkward for the men and Vasilisa could practically feel herself choking on it. So it wasn't her fault that when they got out of the cab she ran into the apartment building with a loud yell of, “Freedom!” in Russian.

 

Vladimir scoffed at her with his arms crossed over his chest while Matt just raised an eyebrow before leading the way towards Karen's apartment. He knocked on the door and and Foggy opened it with a grin at the trio.

 

Vasilisa peaked around Matt and sniffed before grinning. “What's that smell?” She asked as she slipped her way around the blind man and Foggy. She ignored Vladimir's worried, “Vasya!” and looked around. Windows with light beige curtains. Cream colored walls. Carpeted floor. Karen was in the kitchen and she grinned as she said, “I'm cooking spaghetti. Wanna help?”

 

The child looked back at Vladimir with a puzzled face. “ _What's spaghetti?_ ”

 

“ _Noodles with sauce and meat? You've never had spaghetti?_ ” The Russian man answered, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.

 

Vasilisa crossed her arms and made a face at him. “ _They didn't tell us the name of food they gave us back in the Red Room, Papa._ ” She rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen. “How do you make spaghetti?” She then was completely interested as Karen told her in great detail how to cook the dish.

 

She was so interested that she didn't even realize that Vladimir and Matt were leaving until after they were gone, though she had vaguely waved her hand at them as Vladimir had said they were leaving. The blonde man had frowned and huffed but left none the less, Matt smirking at him as he basically pouted.

 

Foggy turned back to watch Karen and Vasilisa. The woman was helping Vasilisa break the noodles into the pot, gray eyes squeezed shut as she felt the heat from the water. “Hey Foggy, go put Mulan in. It should be on the coffee table,” Karen said, jerking Foggy from his thoughts, as she helped Vasilisa dump the sauce onto the meat. The blonde booped the child on the nose as she said teasingly, “I'm sure little Miss I bring Knives to Ballet will love the movie.”

 

Vasilisa scrunched up her nose and giggled.

 

~oOo~

 

Meanwhile in Iowa Clint was helping Kate teach ten of the little girls how to properly hold and fire a bow. For the most part the girls were doing a great job and the two Hawkeyes were very impressed as they shot at the target on the wall.

 

Wanda had rolled her eyes at them as she walked into the living room and saw the twelve of them shooting. “You are in the house. That is not safe!” Clint and Kate had glanced at each other, shrugged, and gone back to directing how to shoot.

 

One of the little girls was climbing up the wall, singing slightly off key, “Oh the itsy bitsy spider crawled up the wall!” with a few of the other girls giggling and bursting out laughing as Pietro worriedly yelled, “No! Get off the ceiling!”

 

All in all it was a calm night. Everyone had just eaten and now they were just relaxing before the girls had to go to bed.

 

Until, “Do you hear that?” Pietro asked, standing up from his spot on the couch.

 

Clint turned to him and gave a dry look. “Is that a joke?”

 

Pietro scowled slightly. “No there's something outside.”

 

Wanda now stood up beside Pietro and slowly the twins made their way to the door, Wanda's hands glowing. Clint and Kate turned so that they had their bows drawn and ready to fire at the first hint of trouble. “This seems like the set up to a really bad fight scene,” Clint mumbled, mostly to himself but Kate still heard and just scoffed. The girls were huddling together, some with their plastic bows and arrows, a few others with their fists clenched.

 

Pietro threw the door open and quickly ran outside. Wanda yelled his name as she heard a gunshot and moved to run out of the house, Clint reaching to grab her arm his face pale, but the young man rushed back into the house and slammed the door shut. “There are a lot of HYDRA agents in weird suits. We may want to do something now,” Pietro said as he glanced at his bleeding arm. Wanda scowled at him and smacked him before hugging him tightly with mumbles.

 

Clint glanced to Kate then the girls before nodding. “There aren't exactly very many hiding places around here guys.” But he began to usher the children up the stairs, the younger adults following after him and not a moment too soon as the door was kicked down and Kate was pretty sure she heard a few windows getting kicked in too.

 

“Hey, where's Lucky?” Clint asked as he did a quick head count.

 

Kate jerked to a stop. And heard barking from downstairs. “Oh hell no! Mother fuckers better not be touching my dog!” She jumped down the stairs and shot an arrow. There was a scream. Something being broken. A yelp. Barking.

 

Clint knocked an arrow and ran after her. “One, not your dog. Two, kick their asses!”

 

“They need help!” A little girl, Sonya, said suddenly, tugging at Wanda's hand. “We can help!”

 

There was another crash and Clint let out a loud curse. Pietro practically flew down the stairs, Wanda yelling his name. The young woman turned back to the children. “Nyet, just stay here! Don't move!”

 

The children stayed for a few moments but quickly shook themselves out of their stupor. As they saw it, it was their fault that Clint's home was being broken into. Their fault that Pietro had been shot. And they could fix it. They'd been trained to fight. So why not help? And so, slowly, they made their way down the stairs and promptly covered their eyes as Clint or Kate fired a flare arrow. A moment later and one of the HYDRA agents threw a sphere that opened and let out a hissing noise as a gas began to fill the room. Kate choked and covered her mouth before sliding to the floor. Clint fired an arrow but was gagging as well. The children began to cough and covered their noses and mouths as they watched from halfway down the stairs as their guardians all fell to the floor, coughing and gagging.

 

“Do we grab them too?” A man asked, voice slightly muffled from behind his mask, as he nudged Wanda with the toe of his shoe.

 

Another shook their head. “No, we get the kids and we're out.” She gestured towards the stairs.

 

A blonde with hazel eyes, Lydiya, glared and spit as the HYDRA agents moved closer. “You can suck an egg you jerk wads!” She yelled out as she punched the nearest one in their masked face. He groaned and staggered back slightly.

 

Another shook their head and dropped another sphere to the floor, this one closer to the girls. It hissed and let out more of the gas. “Hey! You get away from my chickenettes you bastards!” Clint choked out before slumping to the floor as he passed out.

 

~oOo~

 

The vigilante superhero and ex mobster sat awkwardly at a nice Italian restaurant. They ordered their drinks, "Wine. Lots of wine.", and their food and waited, the awkwardness bordering on suffocating now that they didn't have Vasilisa to help break it.

  
"Foggy, that bastard. He knows I can't afford this," Matt mumbled as he sipped at his, very expensive may he add, drink.

  
The Russian wrinkled his nose. "We can, ah what is it you Americans call it? Ah! Dine and ditch."

  
"That is so wrong. No," Matt said simply.

  
Vladimir shrugged and scowled at his own glass. "Do they have something stronger? Like vodka?"

  
The blind man shrugged. "Doubt it. It's an Italian place." He hid his smirk behind his glass as Vladimir groaned.

  
"Vasya was right," Vladimir said simply after taking a gulp of his own wine. Matt raised an eyebrow. "This is awkward."

  
The blind man gave a quiet laugh and buried his face into his hands. Vladimir narrowed his eyes at him as he played with the knife that he had unwrapped from the cloth napkin.

  
Matt groaned again. "We can leave if you want? It's not a big deal. We'll tell them the date just didn't go well."

  
Vladimir rolled his eyes and put the knife down. "Nyet. Free food."

  
"We are not dine and ditching," Matt replied dryly.

  
The Russian smirked. "Nyet but you are paying."

  
Matt scowled back and resisted the urge to flip the blonde off. Which was fine to Vladimir because he was resisting the urge to stab Daredevil just because he could right now.

  
Their food was set in front of them a moment later and they began to eat, barely even looking at each other. Well Vladimir barely even looking at Matt.

  
"You're really great with Vasilisa," the lawyer said simply in an attempt to start a conversation.   


Vladimir shrugged. "Not really. She is easy to deal with is all."

  
Matt shook his head and smirked slightly. "You don't give yourself enough credit. She was so excited to surprise you at the recital. It was all she talked about for a week."

  
Vladimir nearly dropped his fork in surprise as the brunette was grinning as he spoke. "Uh... Spasibo..." The blonde mumbled before shoving a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

  
"It was adorable actually," Matt continued, face turned to his food.

  
"She'd be more adorable if she'd stop eating so much junk," Vladimir said simply.

  
Matt just grinned. "I think that's just a kid thing."

  
The lawyer grinned even more as Vladimir scoffed. "It's awful. She just wants cookies or chips for breakfast!" He sounded absolutely disgusted. Matt laughed softly. "And the boy she punched on first day of school, they are friends now. She has many friends it seems." He sounded amazed, his accent growing slightly thicker, and Matt couldn't help grinning at him.

  
"No more fights at school?" He asked, sipping at his drink.

  
Vladimir shook his head. "Nyet. No knives at ballet either."

  
Matt shook his head. "She's adorable."

  
The blonde scoffed but grinned none the less. "She is something."

  
As Vladimir stared at Matt, the brunette could hear the blonde's pulse speed up slightly. Practically feel as Vladimir broke out into a slight blush. His own heartbeat increased as he noted the changes and arousal of the Russian. The lawyer leaned forward slightly at the same that Vladimir did.

  
Again, Vladimir pulled away before Matt could. "We should finish food," the Russian said with a smirk as Matt frowned.

  
Matt sat back and glared slightly. He didn't have to be able to see to know that Vladimir was smirking. But Matt resisted the urge to kick the Russian or say anything. He just picks his fork up and takes a bite of pasta. Vladimir frowns at the lack of reaction. Matt smirks to himself but hides it well. "Yeah, you're right. I want to go home anyway," Matt says with a shrug. "This is kind of boring."

  
He smirked at Vladimir's indignant huff. "I am not boring date!"

  
Matt raised an eyebrow, smirk disappearing so that he looked innocent. "Really? I'm kind of bored if we're being honest here." He smirked again as Vladimir huffed and cursed at him in Russian. Matt leaned forward slightly, barely even noticeable, but he could tell that the Russian noticed by the increase in heart rate.

  
The lawyer raised an eyebrow at the huff the Russian suddenly gave and the sound of movement. Vladimir Ranskahov- ex boss of the Russian mob- was looking like a pouting five year old for the second time that evening and the very thought made Matt want to burst out into loud laughter.

  
Vladimir scowled at him. " _Hurry up and finish your food devil. Then we leave and I show you good time,_ " the blonde grumbled in his native language. He rolled his eyes at himself. " _Show you good time? Sounds like I am a whore_."

  
Matt just tilted his head in confusion. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, but I don't speak asshole!"

  
Vladimir's laugh just aggravated him even more.

 

~oOo~

 

"You're extremely clean for a kid, you know?" Foggy said as Vasilisa wiped off the table.

  
The child tilted her head. "Really? What do normal children do?" She stared up at the blonde man in confusion. Cleanliness was to be expected in the Red Room, but if normal children weren't clean then she could change. It would just take time.

  
Foggy glanced at Karen and shrugged. "I don't know. I have a nephew who dumps his food on himself. But most kids I've known aren't exactly the cleanest." He laughed out jokingly.

  
Vasilisa stared at him then looked at the plate of food in her hands. And promptly dumped it on herself. Karen's jaw dropped as she stared at the spaghetti sauce that dripped off of the child and onto the floor then promptly smacked Foggy in the arm.

  
"Ow Karen why?!" Foggy yelped out, trying to hold in a laugh, as he rubbed at his arm. He hadn't thought the child would actually dump food on herself so therefore this was not his fault.

  
Karen gestured to the child. "She has spaghetti dripping off of her!" The blonde grabbed a dish rag from the drawer and wet it slightly before making her way back to the child. "We need to get her clean or else Ivan is going to blow!" She said as she scrubbed at the sauce on Vasilisa's cheek.

  
Vasilisa winced and pushed herself away slightly. Foggy rolled his eyes and put the plates away. "If he has a kid he should be used to said kid making a mess." Karen made a face. "Don't look at me like that! Kids are messy! They should be allowed to be messy! Right Va-" he let out a yell as the window was kicked in.

  
Karen pushed Vasilisa into the living room before picking up the nearest thing, the dish rag, and threw it at the man's face. "What the hell?!"

  
Vasilisa's eyes widened as she saw the logo on the man's arm. HYDRA. She took a step back, face paling, heart racing.

  
"Karen!" Foggy's sudden yell caused for Vasilisa to turn her attention to him. "Grab Vasilisa and get out!" He ordered as he picked a chair up and smashed it onto the HYDRA agents side. The man grunted in surprise as he fell, but another climbed in through the broken window.

  
Vasilisa turned to tug on Karen's arm, heart racing and beating so quickly and loudly that she was sure that everyone else could hear it. "Come on! Come on!" Karen let herself be tugged for a moment but quickly grabbed her purse and brought out a tiny bottle that she quickly sprayed into the face of a HYDRA agent. It didn't do much good, the liquid only staining the darkened lenses of his glasses.

  
The man scowled and pushed Karen into the wall before reaching down and grabbing Vasilisa by the hair. When he tugged sharply she grimaced but didn't give him the satisfaction of screaming out. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Foggy pick up the leg of the broken chair and swing it at the man's head with a shout of, "Let her go!"

  
And she was let go as he was kicked in the shin, courtesy of herself, and hit in the head, all Foggy. She dashed back over to Karen and watched as Foggy got ready to swing the chair leg at another man. "Where the fuck are you even coming from?!" He shouted before he was punched in the nose.

  
Karen ran over to him, worry painting her features. She glared up at the nearest man and threw out a, really poor excuse in Vasilisa's opinion, punch to the man's face. He groaned and just hit her over the head before kicking her to the floor.

  
The child narrowed her eyes, steeled herself, and took a running leap onto the back of one of the agents. She wrapped her arms around his neck, _'Just like practice'_ , and squeezed tightly. She kept herself calm, ignored her racing heart, as he struggled and hit at her to get her off. She just tightened her hold on him, ignored Karen's shocked, pain laced gasp. Gave a yelp like sound when she was suddenly jerked from the man's back and thrown to the floor.

  
"Would someone just grab her so we can go already? The doctors want to finish this CENTIPEDE project and be done with the Black Widows already." One said in exasperation.

  
Vasilisa looked over and saw Foggy holding his still bleeding nose. Almost as a distant thought she wondered if it was broken. Karen was trying to stand up shakily. The brunette glared up at the five agents and formed fists. "Leave them alone! Leave me alone! Fight me you limp noodles! You can't make me come back!" She yelled out from her spot on the floor. She squirmed and kicked and punched and bit as she was lifted up and carried to the door.

  
"Why is she covered in spaghetti?" She distantly heard one ask. A thud and Foggy groaning and Karen giving a quiet yell.

 

~oOo~

 

After dinner Vladimir stated that they would go to Matt's apartment and the whole way back to Matt's apartment Vladimir had been patient. No touching. Barely talking. Matt did the same. Until they were at the lawyer's apartment door and Matt raised an eyebrow as Vladimir's heart rate jumped. He smirked slightly as he reached for his keys.

  
Vladimir barely waited for Matt to unlock the door. Then he was practically shoving the blind man into the apartment, kicking the door closed behind them as he pushed the younger man against the wall. Matt brought his hands up, cane falling to the floor, so he could run his hands through the Russian's short blonde hair. He gave a tug and pulled the Russian even closer against him so that the two were chest to chest.

  
Vladimir grazed his hands down Matt's side, smirking softly into the brunette's neck as Matt gave a breathy sigh and small shudder.

  
Matt began to tug softly at Vladimir's button down, slowly undoing the bottom buttons. "God," Matt breathed out as Vladimir latched himself onto his collarbone and pressed quick kisses into the spot before sucking harshly.

  
Vladimir smirked again before nibbling up and down Matt's neck with a mumble of, " _No just me,_ " in his native tongue.

  
Matt rolled his eyes at the Russian that he couldn't understand but grinned none the less. "Still don't speak asshole Ivan," he said, the name slipping almost easily now. "Bed," he groaned out as the Russian pressed himself against Matt.

  
Vladimir nodded and began to nudge Matt towards the bedroom with a nod. "Da."

  
The two stumbled onto the bed, Matt turning so that he landed laying on top of Vladimir. Matt sat up so that he was now straddling the Russian, a situation that gave him slight de ja vu. The Russian slid Matt's glasses off and placed them on the night stand. Matt began to unbutton the top half of his shirt, Vladimir joining in at the bottom.

  
The Russian would stop every other button to swiftly caress the newly uncovered skin. He frowned slightly, thankful that it went unnoticed by the blind man, as he would caress a scar or two. Of course he knew about Matt's nightly activities, but Matt didn't know that he knew. Or so he was assuming.

  
Matt shrugged off his shirt and began to work on Vladimir's while the Russian almost lazily unbuttoned and unzipped Matt's pants while toeing off his shoes. The Russian sat up slightly so that he could shrug his shirt off while Matt kicked his own shoes off. Vladimir began to tug Matt's jeans lower when the blind mans phone began to chant "FOGGY. FOGGY. FOGGY."

  
The Russian groaned but let go of Matt's pants. He slid his hand into the pocket and grasped the phone then answered with a scowl, "This better be emergency! We are busy!"

  
"V-Ivan!" Matt nearly hissed, embarrassment causing for him to almost slip and call the Russian by his real name. The slip up went unnoticed. Or so he thought

  
"It is! Your daughter!"

  
Vladimir tensed. "What's wrong with Vasya?"

  
"She- there were these guys and she just got kidnapped!" Foggy yelled, hysteria lacing his voice.

  
Vladimir frowned, nearly dropping the phone. "Chto? What?" He asked incredulously.

  
Matt raised an eyebrow but listened as Foggy began to quickly, nearly hysterically, explain what happened.

  
"These guys! They broke into the apartment! Roughed us all up and took her! They just snatched her up! Said something about the Black Widow and centipedes!"

  
Vladimir paled. Matt's eyebrows scrunched together in worry as Vladimir's pulse skyrocketed in what he presumed to be worry. "Be there in moment," was all Vladimir said, accent becoming even thicker, and he hung up. The Russian almost pushed Matt off of him and grabbed the two discarded shirts from the floor. "Hurry!" Vladimir practically barked as he began to struggle with the shirt and slip his shoes back on.

  
Matt ran his hands over the slightly coarser material of the shirt. "V-Ivan stop!" He said as he slid his own shoes back on and grabbed his glasses.

  
Vladimir turned to glare at the blind man. "Nyet! My da-"

  
He was cut off as Matt pushed his shirt to his chest. "You're trying to put the wrong shirt on." Matt was trying to keep calm for the both of them. His facade was working well enough.

  
The Russian frowned and slowly handed Matt the smaller shirt. "Spasibo."

  
A pause.

  
"Uh right. Come on," Matt said as he began to push the Russian out the door.

  
~oOo~

  
Matt raised his hand to knock on the door but stopped as he was pushed out of the way so Vladimir could throw the door open. "Where is she?! Do you know who took her?!" He yelled, grabbing Foggy by the neck of his shirt and shaking the shorter man.

  
Matt raced over and pulled the Russian off of his friend. "Ivan you need to calm down! Hurting Foggy won't do anything to help find Vasilisa!"

  
The Russian nearly growled but took another step away from the blond man. Vladimir looked over the two blondes. Karen had a small cut on her head, bruises were beginning to pepper her skin, her hair was in disaray. Foggy was no better. Blood on his face, a bruised face. He almost felt bad for the two, but his daughter was gone and he didn't know where she was or who took her. 'What if they took her back to Germany?' The thought nearly made him break something.

  
He saw Matt tense slightly, a puzzled expression on his face, mouth moving to form words but nothing coming out. "Chto?"

  
Karen turned to stare at him now. "What? We aren't about to be attacked again are we?"

  
The blind man shook his head and turned to open the door, confusion on his face. "Natasha?"

  
The redhead gave a small smile, really it was just a quirk of the lips before turning back into a neutral expression, and brushed past the lawyer into the apartment. "The girl. Do you have any idea at how hard it has been to track that child down? And for me to admit that you know it's been awful," she said before sitting on the couch. Matt gave a shrug but didn't say anything, just listened as Vladimir's pulse quickened. The Russian's breathing increased as well.

  
Vladimir tensed as she spoke. And tensed even more if possible as a blonde woman made herself at home as well and spoke, "And then when we find her she is gone. Stolen away. And the search continues on."

  
Karen glanced between the six people now crowding her small apartment. "Uhm Matt? Who are these people?"

  
The lawyer sighed. "Remember the Russian I dated last year for a bit?"

  
Foggy's jaw dropped slightly. "Dude! You dated the Black Widow-" Vladimir tensed and turned sharply to glare at the red head, "-and you didn't tell us?!"

  
Karen rolled her eyes. "I think you have a thing for Russians Matt."

  
Vladimir's eye twitched and he slammed a fist down onto the table. "We don't have time for this! I want my daughter back!" Matt raised an eyebrow at the other man's tone. If he hadn't sounded so worried, Matt could have sworn that Vladimir was jealous. Or just possessive. Probably just possessive.

  
The man in the corner with the metal arm glared slightly but other wise didn't move.

  
The blonde woman scoffed. "She isn't your daughter and you know it."

  
Matt raised an eyebrow. Vladimir had tensed even more if that was possible. "You are people who took her away from Germany! You know where she is, da?" Vladimir practically spit out through his teeth.

  
The women didn't deny it.

  
Vladimir slammed his fist back onto the table, ignoring Karen's yell of "Don't break my table you ass!", and shouted, "She is my daughter and you're going to help me get her back!"

  
Natasha sighed softly. "It's not that simple. I don't know how much you know, but there are twenty-eight little girls. Twenty-eight children trained just like myself and Yelena," she gestured to the blonde. "They're dangerous to themselves and other people. When we get them back you have to know that you can't take her with you."

  
Matt took a step closer to Vladimir in an attempt to calm the man as his heart raced faster and faster the more she spoke. But Vladimir took a step back and scowled at the woman. "Nyet! You're wrong. She's not dangerous!"

  
"You know that she's dangerous," this time it was Yelena who spoke up. "You had to have noticed that she's different by now."

  
The three Americans turned their heads to glance at Vladimir. The blonde just scowled. "I don't care. She's not dangerous. You four are going to help me get my daughter back now." He pointed vaguely to the two Russian women, the man who had still yet to say a word, and Matt.

  
Foggy glanced at Matt then back to Vladimir. "You're pointing at Matt. Why're you pointing at Matt?"

  
Vladimir scoffed. "You think me stupid, mudaks? I know that you are man in mask! You are probably not even blind! You fight good and Vasya knew who you were!" He kicked the table. Karen winced. Foggy turned to stare at Matt, who had paled slightly, before moving to Karen. "And now you're going to help me get her back!"

 

~oOo~

 

Slowly Vasilisa blinked her eyes open. And promptly squeazed them shut again as the light above nearly blinded her. She tried to bring her hands up to her eyes to rub at them but stopped short at the restraints holding her down. She blinked until her eyes grew accustomed to the light and slowly took in every detail of her surroundings that she could.

  
  
She wasn't wearing anything except for her underwear. She was cold. Bright lights. It smelled like a hospital, so cleaner than the base in Germany. People walking around the room. A heart monitor connected to her. Another girl was lying strapped down just like her to her left and she recognized her as another of the girls from the Red Room. To her right was another girl. The other two girls were glancing around as well and Vasilisa wondered if there were more of the girls in the room.

  
"Looks like you're finally awake," a woman's voice said from near Vasilisa's head.

  
The child tilted her head as much as she could to stare up at her. The woman had gray eyes and dark brown hair that was pulled into a tight bun. Light freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. Glasses. A crisp white lab coat. A clip board clasped in blue gloved hands. Vasilisa narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything.

  
"We've been looking for you children for a while now. Breaking away wasn't the smartest thing to do," the lady continued as she looked at the machines and wrote down whatever they showed her.

  
"Stop antagonizing them," a man griped suddenly. He sounded annoyed and Vasilisa could detect a hint of worry under that.

  
The woman pursed her lips slightly but quickly calmed herself. "Yes, you're right, we should begin the process now." She moved over to the girl to Vasilisa's right, checked her vitals, then nodded her head. "All four are ready. Let's begin."

  
~oOo~

  
It had taken much more complaining and arguing, a broken table that Karen yelled that "You crazy ass Russians are paying for that!", but finally they were on the Quinjet. Matt pretended he didn't notice how Vladimir was staring at him; he could feel the glare.

  
Natasha spoke quickly into her phone and Matt made a face as he recognized Clint's voice. The last time they'd been around each other Clint had fired a flare arrow and Matt had to act blind. Which was harder than he thought. The small team, if you could even call them that, were now flying to Iowa to pick up four more people.

  
Vladimir scowled and waited impatiently. Every second that went by was another second that Vasilisa could be hurt. It pained him to think about what she could be going through.

  
He glanced over to the blonde woman and watched as she tapped away on a Starkpad.

  
"Anything?" Natasha asked suddenly.

  
Yelena shook her head. "They're good."

  
"We're better," came the quick quip.

  
Yelena's response was just a raise of the corner of her mouth. Vladimir just scowled. He turned his glare to Matt who wore the red Daredevil suit. The Russian clenched a fist as he thought over the past two weeks. It was so obvious now. The bruise on Matt's face the night after the run in with Daredevil. The way he would tense up whenever Vladimir was near. The way he had tensed as Vladimir hummed 'On the Field'. He probably even thought that he had kidnapped Vasilisa and that thought made him want to punch the man even more.

  
' _Was any of it ever real?_ ' Vladimir thought with a scoff. ' _Or did he just want to get close so that he could take her away and have me put in prison?_ ' These thoughts made him want to shoot the man. He glared at the lawyer. ' _You're not even blind I bet. No one who is blind could fight the way that you do._ ' He watched as Matt refused to meet his gaze and the blonde huffed loudly again. " _For the love of God are we there yet?!_ " He yelled the question in annoyed Russian.

  
The women didn't even spare him a glance. "We'll be there soon. Just be patient," Natasha stated calmly.

  
Matt huffed and Vladimir just glared at him. _"I can't! My daughter could be anywhere!"_ He didn't switch over to English like she had.

  
"We'll be landing within the next ten minutes," Yelena spoke up. Her statement just earned a glare which she happily returned.

  
Less than ten minutes later and Clint was climbing into the Quinjet with a scowl and grumbling under his breath. "Hey Nat. Wait... What the hell?" He gestured towards the three people who had not been with her when she had left three weeks ago. "Why is Daredevil with you? And does Cap know you took his friend? And-"

  
"Clint."

  
"One more thing!" He ignored Natasha's sigh. "Who's the mean looking blonde?"

  
Vladimir scowled at him then turned to glare at Matt as the lawyer huffed a laugh out.

  
"Daredevil is with us because the mean blonde made him. Cap does not know I have James with me. And said blonde is the man who adopted our missing kid. Kate," the redhead nodded her head in greeting as the younger woman boarded the jet.

  
Kate just gave a vague wave before plopping down in the empty seat next to Vladimir. The Russian made a face but didn't move. She just gave him a glare and nod as if to say she approved of him not attempting to make her move; he would have been the one to move though.

  
Yelena looked the twins up and down. "Who are they?"

  
"Clint's boyfriend and his sister," Natasha answered simply before the jet began to rise.

  
Clint scowled at her. "He's not my boyfriend. Don't be an ass."

  
Matt raised an eyebrow as he heard the man's heart rate speed up at the words he said. Pietro's heart raced slightly before slowly going back to normal.

  
The platinum blonde made a scoffing noise. " _As if that old man could keep up with this,_ " he stated simply in Sokovian. Wanda smacked him in the arm as she rolled her eyes.

  
Vladimir scowled. " _Your Russian is awful._ "

  
_"Maybe your Sokovian is awful, asshole,"_ came the snippy response.

  
The Russian man raised an eyebrow. " _Sokovian? Like the country that was dropped?_ "

  
He ignored Natasha's glare. Pietro and Wanda sighed. " _Yes. Like the country that was dropped._ "

  
It was a tense silent for all of ten minutes until Yelena simply broke it with, "I found the base where HYDRA is. How do you feel about a trip to Texas?"

  
Clint made a face. "Why Texas?"

  
Yelena rolled her eyes. "Probably because they get that reaction."

  
A movement. Clint had tilted his head. "Good point."

 

~oOo~

 

Vasilisa screamed and screamed until she couldn't scream anymore. She went in and out of consciousness. There were more screams and somewhat vaguely she remembered the other three girls. They had all struggled against their bonds until they had broken the skin and bled and then passed out once more.

  
"You look upset doctor," a voice said. She remembered it as the woman who had started the pain.

  
"I have children. My youngest is just a year older than these girls," a man said. He was the man who'd yelled for her to just get started.

  
A pause. "I had a daughter once. I couldn't take care of her so I gave her up for adoption. She was such a beautiful baby." Vasilisa noted that she sounded dazed in a way but the thought was quickly pushed away as the burning sensation coursed its way through her body once again.

  
Another pause. "Then why give her up? Why do this to these children?" He didn't do anything to stop her; he helped her fill more syringes.

  
A laugh, not out of amusement but just because she couldn't do anything else. More burning as another needled was pricked through her skin and into her veins. "She reminded me too much of her father. I couldn't take care of a child. She would be their age. Some things, bad things, have to be done. This is a necessary evil. And soon it will be over."   
  
Vasilisa fainted again, their voices drowned out to the screams and cries of the other girls.

 

~oOo~

 

The base looked more like a hospital in Clint's opinion. Except it was kind of out in the middle of nowhere, an hour and a half away from the nearest town. It was three stories high, lights on in nearly two-thirds of the rooms. He clenched a fist, ignored as Daredevil turned to face him, clenched his jaw and glared at the building. One of those rooms, maybe more than one, had his kids. And by god he was going to get his little birdies back. The male blonde Russian stared at the building just as ferociously as he did Clint noticed out of the corner of his eye.

  
The small band of heroes, vigilante, and ex-mob boss were camped near trees that were no more than ten feet away from the building. Clint and Vladimir were anxious. Both had grown attached to the children, child in the Russian's case, that they had taken care of.

  
"So how are we going to get them back?" The silence was broken as Bucky spoke quietly. He was staring at the building too, looking for the best places to attack.

  
Vladimir scoffed, "I say we go in and shoot any who tell us no."

  
"Vladimir, no," Matt sighed out. He ignored as the Russian glared at him. He was beginning to grow accustomed to the hateful glare that he was mildly thankful that he couldn't see, only feel.

  
Clint shrugged. "I actually really like that idea." He knocked an arrow and aimed at a window.

  
"Clint, no," Natasha stated simply.

  
The blondes turned to glance at each other. The deaf man gave a slight nod. "I vote yes!" Was all he shouted before running towards the building, arrow flying into a window with a crash.

  
Kate punched a tree. "God damn it Hawkeye why?!" The young woman jumped up and began to chase after the man. "Well come on! He needs someone to save his sorry ass!"

  
When everyone else finally caught up to the men there were thirteen bodies on the floor, some breathing, some not so much. Matt winced slightly as he thought about Vladimir killing the people. It shouldn't have surprised him as much as it was. The man had worked for Fisk after all. But he had been changing. He wasn't like before. Or so Matt had, probably naively, believed.

  
"Where are they?!" Clint's growl broke through Matt's train of thought. The deaf man shook the bleeding man by the neck of his shirt. "Where are they?!" He repeated.

  
The man's heart was racing, he smelled of sweat. Nervous. Scared. 'Good.' "They're- some are on the first floor. They're locked up. Just let me go!"

  
More shaking courtesy of Clint. "Some? Where are the rest?!"

  
A gun being reloaded. Vladimir. "Where is Vasilisa?"

  
"I- I don-" he yelped as the Russian shot him in the leg.

  
Matt turned to glare at the blonde. "Vladimir! Don't kill him!" Was all he hissed out.

  
A scoff and, "He does not need leg to breathe," was all Vladimir said.

  
Yelena gave a shrug. "He's correct."

  
A groan from Kate. "Yeah, he's not exactly wrong Daredevil." Matt rolled his eyes at the girl.

  
Vladimir stepped on the leg that he had shot. "Vasilisa! She has short hair! Brown hair!" He made a gesture to show that the girl's hair was chin length. "Where is she?!" He put more weight onto the leg and grinned as the man gave a yell.

  
"She's on the second floor! With three other girls! For testing!" The man gasped out. Matt could smell the salt from tears now.

  
A yell as Vladimir stepped harder on the leg. "Why are they separated from the others?"

  
Clint nodded in agreement.

  
"Testing! Tests!"

  
Vladimir cursed. "Won't get anything else from him," he stated simply as he moved his foot off of the mans leg. Clint let him drop to the floor and picked up his bow. A shot went off and the man's heart stopped.

  
Clint turned to face Natasha. "The girls." She gave a curt nod, didn't even spare a glance at the bodies as the two quickly took off down a hall. "Hawkeye take out as many as you guys can!" Clint tossed over his shoulder.

  
Matt was so occupied on keeping Vladimir out of trouble that he didn't even notice when the twins dashed past him, or when Bucky and Yelena took an elevator to the third floor, or when Kate went down the opposite hallway and the seven people she ran into all yelled as she brought them to the floor. All he really noticed was that Vladimir was taking the steps two, sometimes three, at a time to get to the second floor with him right behind the Russian. Matt grabbed ahold of Vladimir's wrist and tugged him back from the door that the Russian was about to throw open. He shook his head and maneuvered so that he was in front of the door and after a pause threw it open and hit the closest man with his billy club.

  
A quick fight ensued. A gun shot went off and Matt turned to Vladimir with a scowl. "Stop killing them!" He shouted before punching another in the face.

  
The Russian scowled. "They deserve it for hurting Vasya." He didn't get a chance to raise the gun again as Matt kicked it out of his hands and quickly finished dealing with the four people. The lawyer stood up straight and listened.

  
Six rapid heart beats. Four heart beats that fluctuated between too fast and then normal and then too slow. Beeping machines. Sweat. Blood. Whimpers. He tensed as he took in the smells and sounds coming from down the hall and gestured for Vladimir to follow him. He waited a moment with his hand on the doorknob. There was a person next to the door. Another with a gun pointed at the door. They were waiting for them.

  
Clicking of heels against the floor. The scratching of a pen on paper. A huff of breath; a sigh. Heart speeding up.

  
Matt threw the door open, tossed a billy club and smirked slightly as it hit the man with the gun. He threw a fist out and caught the man closest to the door in the jaw. He stumbled slightly when Vladimir shoved him out of the way as he shouted for Vasilisa.

  
The Russian looked down at the small child and frowned, heart racing. She was pale with dried and still drying blood. Her skin was clammy with sweat. Almost as if she had heard him she slowly opened her eyes. Dull grey stared up at the worried blonde for just a moment before slipping shut again. Vladimir reached to the tubes that were connecting her and the machines together and got ready to tug the tubes with the odd colored liquid out of the child when a womans voice stopped him.

  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she stated simply, ends of her mouth curled up in a twisted smirk. She didn't even spare a glance at the other four people on the floor or the man in red, just stared at the blonde.

  
He scowled at her and didn't remove his hand from the tube. "And why not?"

  
She just smirked more, didn't flinch as Daredevil moved closer to her. "It could kill her."

  
Vladimir's heart skipped a beat. "What did you do to her? To them?!"

  
She gave a dark laugh. "We made them the best assassins to ever grace this world. Super soldiers. With powers!"

  
Matt ignored as his and Vladimir's heart raced slightly at her words, just grabbed her and pinned her to the wall. "Undo it!"

  
"We can't! And you can't stop it now!" She breathed out before grinning again. It was obvious that she was pleased.

  
Vladimir looked over Vasilisa one more time. His eyes widened slightly as he took in the burn marks around her fingers and wrists. A quick look over to the little girl to her left and he saw that she was covered in bruises as well as being pale and damp with blood and sweat. The woman laughed again as she saw him looking at the child. "She was difficult. I used mutant DNA for the other three but hers, her I used the girl Skye. She's not a mutant or a science experiment! And so it took longer to find out how to fuse it with the serum to inject. An-"

  
"Make her shut up or I kill her slowly," Vladimir growled out, hand twitching to the handgun he had.

  
Matt gave a tiny nod of the head before knocking the woman unconscious and letting her body hit the floor. One more person was still standing. Matt turned to glare at the man, fist clenched at his sides as he heard him moving. He heard Vladimir grab his gun and point it at the man's head.

  
"And what," the safety clicked off, "are you doing?" The Russian ground out.

  
The man began to tap keys and didn't even spare them a glance. "I can't undo what's been done. But I can stop them from getting anymore of that," he gestured to the liquid with a disgusted look, "put into their bodies." He tapped and clicked away for a few moments more. "I thought I was doing good in the world. I'm a scientist. I just wanted to help." His heart stayed steady. Not a lie.

  
Vladimir scoffed. "Lot of good you did! You look at her! Look at them!" He waved his arm to the four girls.

  
The man choked. "I know. I know! It wasn't supposed to go like this!" Matt smelled salt in the air as the man held back tears. "I look at them and all I can see is my children!" He yelled out as he unhooked the machines and tubes slowly. Vladimir had to stop himself from punching the man as Vasilisa let out a whimper as she was unhooked from everything. The blonde quickly but carefully scooped the shaking child into his arms and began to mumble into her hair in Russian.

  
Matt resisted the urge to run over to the Russians. To make sure that Vasilisa was alright. Vladimir gave an odd choke sound. "Why do you have spaghetti in your hair?"

  
"Why do you always ask about my hair?" Came the nearly silent response. The sides of Matt's mouth quirked up into a small smile as Vladimir gave a quiet groan.

  
The doctor unhooked the last girl and moved so the two men could take them. "Just- just please, make sure they get taken back to whoever was taking care of them. Don't let HYDRA take them again," he managed to choke out. He couldn't look at Vladimir as the Russian scowled and glared at him. Matt just gave a tense nod.

  
The doctor rushed out of the room before Matt could stop him. Vladimir tightened his hold on Vasilisa as he glanced at the remaining three children. "We need to leave."

  
Matt gave another nod. "You have Vasya?" The nickname slipped easily. How could it not after hearing Vladimir call her that for the past week?

  
The Russian narrowed his eyes but gave a curt nod. "I take another and you get last two," he said simply as he reached for the bruised child. He ignored the whimpers and just began to lead the way to the hall, Matt following behind with the other two girls in his arms. Swiftly they made their way down the hall back to the staircase when the elevator dinged and Clint ran out of it.

  
"My birdies!" He yelled as he saw the three girls. "And my escaped chickenette!"

  
Vladimir held Vasilisa tighter. "She's not yours!" The two blondes stared at each other, both unwilling to back down.

  
"She was mine first. She's my baby too," Clint stated as he took the bruised child from the Russian. "How you feeling Maria?" He whispered to the strawberry blonde. She shook her head and held on tighter to him, arms wrapped around his neck. He hummed for a moment and rubbed soothing circles on her back.

  
The deaf man glanced over at Matt and held out his free arm to grab ahold of one of the girls the blind man was holding onto. "Heya Sonya dear. You good?" A small nod and whimper. "Awesome. Lana? You alright?” another nod. “We need to get to the jet. I'm all for borrowing one of their cars." Clint stated.

  
Vladimir gave a nod, slightly reluctant to agree with the man but doing so none the less. Matt gave a sigh but followed the two men.

  
He gave Clint an incredulous look once the man had hotwired a car and thrown open the door. "You want me to what?"

  
The blonde sighed. "Drive. Get in the car. Drive us back to the jet."

  
Matt stayed silent but turned to give Vladimir a dry look. The Russian just slid into the backseat of the car throwing, "Just drive mudak!" over his shoulder.

  
"But-"

  
"Would you just shut up and drive?! I need to get my chickies to the jet! They're ready to go back home," Clint stated as he slid in beside Vladimir, the children being squeezed between the two or in their laps. Vladimir just tightened his hold on Vasilisa.

  
Matt took a deep breath but slid into the seat and placed his hands on the wheel. _'Okay. This can't be too hard. Just...'_ He shifted the car into reverse and accidentally put too much pressure on the gas pedal. The car flew back into another car. Said other car's alarm began to go off loudly causing for Matt to wince slightly.

  
Clint swore softly. Vladimir swore louder and in Russian which caused for Sonya to let out a small giggle.

  
Matt grimaced and shifted the car into drive and placed not nearly as much pressure onto the gas pedal. The car slowly began to move forward. Clint and Vladimir shared a look out of the corner of their eyes. "Uhh Daredevil, I can walk faster than this. You mind, I don't know, maybe going faster?"

  
"You mind shutting up?" Matt mumbled back before slamming on the breaks. The girls gave small shrieks as they were thrown back slightly. Matt jerked the wheel to the left and swerved, just barely missing hitting the building. There were multiple thumping sounds. _'I don't want to know,'_ Matt thought to himself as he put more pressure on the gas pedal.

  
Vladimir began to curse and cover Vasilisa's eyes. " _We are going to die. This. This is how I die,_ " he kept repeating in Russian.

  
They all yelled as the car crashed into a tree, the front of the car now crushed and smoking. Clint threw the door open and fell to the ground.

  
Vladimir just stayed sitting in the car, eyes blinking quickly. "I thought that was how I die," he mumbled, accent thick.

  
"Shut up," Matt snapped back as he threw open his own door and climbed out. He turned so that he was 'staring' at the smoking and crushed front end of the car. "That went a lot better than I expected actually," he stated, brushing imaginary dust off of his hands.

  
"What the fuck kind of driving was that?!" Clint yelled as he helped the remaining three children out of the car.

  
"You are worst driver ever!" Vladimir snapped out, looking Vasilisa over to make sure that she wasn't hurt from the ride.

  
"Well for one I'm from New York! I have never had to drive before so that was my first time driving! And two I'm blind!" The lawyer yelled back, annoyed with the other two men.   


It was silent for a few moments. Then, "What do you mean you are blind?!" And "Oh god! Is it because of the flare arrow?! I swear I can fix this! Maybe!"  
  
Matt somehow was able to resist the urge to bash his head into the crashed car. "No! The arrow did not make me blind!”

 

“Oh. Then you are the worst actor ever.”

 

Matt glared at the deaf man though he couldn't tell because of the mask. “And I mean, Vladimir, that I am blind! As in roses are black! Violets are black! You're black! Everything is black because I am _blind_! You assholes!" The lawyer yelled. He'd had enough of Vladimir's attitude. He'd had enough of Clint. He just wanted to go back to Hell's Kitchen. Fight the Kingpin maybe. Just be done with HYDRA, Clint, and Vladimir's sass.

  
Clint made a face. "Well I guess that explains the whole driving in braille thing." The two children in his arms giggled softly before growing silent again.

  
Vasilisa lightly tapped, in an attempt to smack, Vladimir's shoulder. "Could have told you he was blind," she mumbled sleepily in Russian.

  
Vladimir looked down at her worriedly. "You said he was man in mask! I thought that meant he could see and that being blind was his cover!"

 

“Oh for the love of- there are other ways to see!” Matt yelled, taking a child from Clint then turning to walk away and to where he knew the Quinjet to be.

 

Once they were all boarding the jet and Clint had done a quick headcount to make sure that everyone was there Natasha asked what had taken them so long.

 

“Oh we let Daredevil drive.”

 

Natasha just took a deep breath and rubbed her temples. “Why would you let Matt drive? He's blind, Clint!”

 

The man just shrugged. “No one informed me the man was blind!”

 

The redhead turned to glare at Vladimir. “I thought it was cover.” The woman just groaned.

 

Clint stared out of the window with a puzzled expression. “Why aren't we flying?”

 

Natasha pursed her lips as Yelena scoffed loudly. “You S.H.I.E.L.D. is coming apparently. So much for there not being much of one left.”

 

“Melinda called. Said they were investigating HYDRA bases and saw the paperwork for this CENTIPEDE project. It'll be best to have the girls looked over too,” Natasha said as she looked over the five girls who were dazedly staring off into space or leaning against whatever or whoever was holding them up. “Seems like we found our missing girl too.” She frowned as Vladimir turned to block her view of Vasilisa.

 

The little girl that Matt had put down, Lana, began to whimper slightly, hands covering her ears, eyes scrunched shut tightly. “It's too loud. Everything is too loud,” she gasped out silently.

 

Vasilisa nodded and buried her face into Vladimir's neck with a mumble of, “Make it stop.” Matt turned to the Russians and gave a worried look. Vladimir frowned and just hummed softly to Vasilisa as Clint did the same to Lana.

 

It was like that for fifteen minutes, the two children whimpering about it being too loud as the blonde men tried to comfort them, until another Quinjet began to land. Matt frowned as he counted the heartbeats on the descending jet. Nine heartbeats. And when Natasha and Clint ushered everybody onto the jet Matt nearly winced as Clint let out a yell of, “BOBBI?! Wait. COULSON?! No. BOBBI?!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this took wayyy longer to update than I thought it would. I have been working over 25 hours a week the past two or three weeks. Super duper sorry. Also fun fact, when I was trying to pick out four mutants to use for this (I knew I wanted Jean Grey and Emma Frost but I needed two more) my friend suggested Cyclops. My response was "No that's dangerous!" "Oh but the Phoenix isn't?!" "Good point." Ended up using Storm and Daisy/Skye even though Skye/Daisy isn't a mutant. I just couldn't think of anyone else to use.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not too overly happy with this chapter, but I very rarely ever like the first chapter of anything I write. I'm going to finish chapter 4 hopefully tonight and then I'll update chapter 2.


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